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Buyers spend £10k on first-year home makeovers

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Posted:
01/12/2015
Updated:
01/12/2015

New bedrooms and living rooms top the list when it comes to making changes in your new property

Homebuyers spend an average of £10,010 on their new home in the first 12 months of ownership, according to new research from Aviva.

With around 679,000 owner-occupier moves happening every year, this puts the first-year home makeover tally at around £6.8bn across England.

Changing rooms

The study of around 1,000 recent homebuyers reveals redecorated bedrooms (47%) and living rooms (43%) are the most popular choices for first-year transformations, although one in five recent movers installed new kitchens in the first year, and the same splashed out on new bathrooms.

However, the research reveals that people are far more likely to make cosmetic changes to their new homes than investing in home security. Only 8% of new movers said they purchased any sort of security system in their first year.

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Furthermore, fewer than half of recent movers said they updated their home insurance (buildings or contents) after they updated their properties, meaning that some homeowners may be underinsured if they have made significant purchases or changes to their homes.

Adam Beckett, propositions director for Aviva says: “If people are making a lot of new purchases, we’d encourage them to review their home contents insurance, just to make sure they’re adequately covered in case anything did go wrong.

“And if people are making significant changes such as building an extension or a loft conversation, we’d also recommend that they get in touch with their insurer as this could mean that they need to update their buildings insurance too. Homes are certainly people’s castles so we want to make sure the right cover is in place.”