Average spend of £1,509 on home improvement
Published On 27 November 2006
British homeowners spent an average of £1,509.10 last year on home improvement, a new survey has found.Research from MoneyExpert has discovered that many homeowners are taking out personal loans to employ tradespeople to undertake improvements to their property and could be wasting as much as £2,500 in the process.
In fact, around 1.2 million homeowners spent at least £10,000 on their property last year while 2.4 million forked out more than £5,000. A quarter of homeowners said they spent between £500 and £3,000 employing tradespeople to jazz up their castle.
Sean Gardner, MoneyExpert spokesman, said: "Home improvements are one of the most popular reasons for taking out a personal loan. But when people go for major renovations and consider borrowing more than £10,000, they need to ensure they get good value for money.
"Personal loans can vary in price dramatically – you could end up paying back as much as a quarter of the amount you borrowed in extra repayments unless you research the market carefully.
"Of course, there are other considerations such as early redemption fees and minimum income requirements – taking out a personal loan should not be a snap decision."
Londoners spent the most on home improvements in 2006 with an average spend of £1,804.90.
