home improvers i artnershi ith… overview districts ... · home improvement projects is to look at...

Are householders moving on or sprucing up? A look at the trends in planning activity for households across the country

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Britain’s Home Improvers ReportAPRIL 2017

Hinderton Point, Lloyd Drive, Cheshire Oaks, Cheshire, CH65 9HQT: 0151 353 3500E: [email protected]: www.barbour-abi.com

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The Federation of Master Builders (FMB)

British people love their homes and are obsessed with home

improvement. The Barbour ABI Home Improvers Report provides a

unique insight into the trends in domestic refurbishment right across

Great Britain. Not only does it allow us to take the temperature of this

vital business sector as a whole, the granular data also allows as to look

at regional trends and dig down into the detail of what’s happening in

any particular town and city.

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is the largest trade association

in the UK construction industry, representing thousands of small and

medium-sized (SME) construction firms in England, Wales, Scotland

and Northern Ireland. It is our members – the small local builders – who

are carrying out this work and as such, this information is invaluable.

The results of this year’s Barbour ABI Home Improvers Report show

that there was an 6% rise in home improvement work that requires

planning permission in 2016 compared to 2015 and these results

chime with our own research. Despite gloomy predictions from

many economists in the run up to the EU referendum last summer,

construction SME workloads have not only held up, they are in rude

health. Even as we approached Article 50 being served at the end of

March 2017, the results of the FMB’s State of Trade Survey for Q1 2017

show that construction workloads continued to grow and 50% of firms

expect this trend to continue into Q2 2017.

But it’s not all good news – builders do have concerns about the

spike in material prices following the depreciation of the pound.

Construction SMEs are also faced with an increase in wages due to

the ever-worsening construction skills shortage. Unfortunately these

price increases will have to be passed onto the consumer which may

dampen consumer demand during 2017.

However, for now, there is much to celebrate – a booming SME

construction sector and a strong rise in home improvement work right

across Great Britain. Not bad when you consider what most analysts

were predicting following the UK’s vote to leave the EU.

About the Federation of Master BuildersThe Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is the largest trade association in the UK construction industry representing thousands of firms in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Established in 1941 to protect the interests of small and medium-sized (SME) construction firms, the FMB is independent and non-profit making, lobbying for members’ interests at both the national and local level.

The FMB is a source of knowledge, professional advice and support for its members, providing a range of modern and relevant business building services to help them succeed. The FMB is committed to raising quality in the construction industry and offers a free service to consumers called ‘Find a Builder’.

Please visit www.fmb.org.uk.

Brian BerryCHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE FMB

The results of this year’s Barbour ABI Home Improvers Report show that there was an 6% rise

in home improvement work that requires planning permission in 2016 compared to 2015 and these

results chime with our own research

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The desire to improve our homes runs deep in the

British psyche. Compared with other nations we tend

to preserve our homes more and demolish few. So we

have one of the oldest housing stocks in world. The

latest English Housing Survey suggests around three

quarters of homes are more than 50 years old. Also

home owners today appear to be moving less often

than they used to. So for those keen to upgrade their

homes, home improvement will loom ever larger.

For those who make a living from home improvement

either doing the work or selling products and services,

the key questions include: Who are the home owners

most likely to improve? Where are households likely

to dig deep into their pockets to shell out on home

improvement projects? What influences their decision?

We can get big clues from looking at the local

authorities that come top of the Home Improvers

tables, which gauge where private homes are most

likely to be the subject of a home improvement

planning application.

Naturally not all home improvements need planning

permission and legislation has reduced the need for

many would-be home improvers to seek planning

before embarking on their projects. But a substantial

number of the larger home improvement projects will

require planning approval and Barbour ABI captures

data on all these applications across Britain.

This data when scaled for the size of the local housing

market provides a good indicator of where home

improvement hot spots lie. If we link this information

to other sources of data we can begin to gain a better

insight into what drives and what suppresses a

household’s decision to invest in improving their home.

As we will see, some of these are pretty obvious.

Where there’s more money there’s likely to be more

home improvement. Some factors are less obvious.

Some can appear to work in both directions,

depending on market conditions, in how they prompt

home owners to improve or move as they seek a home

that better fits their changing needs and aspirations.

So, armed with the rankings of home improvers

nationally and regionally and an array of different data

we’ve sought to tease out some of the factors that are

likely to support home improvement activity and those

which make it more likely in one area than another.

Naturally, underlying all of this, the health of the

economy will play a major part in determining the

confidence of those considering putting their hands

in their pockets to splash out on a major investment

in their home.

But what will become very clear as we explore various

factors below is that the pattern of households

who are likely to spend on home improvement is in

constant flux.

The economyAs we can see from Fig. 1.1 home improvement

activity shifts very closely with changes in the

economy. If we follow the heavier red line in Fig. 1.1

which shows the four-quarter average number of

home improvement applications the link is very clear.

The correlation becomes even stronger if you lag

the measure for home improvement applications

six months after the corresponding GDP figure.

This suggests the number of home improvement

applications have risen or fallen in line with rises or

falls in GDP about six months later.

But the impact of economic growth and recessions is

not evenly distributed between households and this

can alter the pattern of home improvement across

the nation. For instance, closer examination of the

data indicates that the recession hits those reliant on

income in terms of spending on home improvement

more than those with wealth. Conversely a strong

economy tends to support more growth in home

improvement spend among those reliant on

income rather than wealth. In recessions those

in employment were more likely to hold back on

improvements than those in or near retirement. So, in

the South West, a traditional retirement destination,

OVERVIEW…

The changing drivers of home improvement

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

130

140

Qua

rter

ly n

umbe

r of h

ome-

impr

over

app

licat

ions

(thou

sand

s)

Dec08

Dec09

Dec10

Dec11

Dec12

Dec13

Dec14

Dec15

Dec16

380

400

420

440

460

480

500

Quarterly GDP (£bn) constant prices

Applications quarterly moving average

FIG 1.1

GDP and home improvement planning applicationsSource: Barbour ABI, ONS

Home owners today appear to be moving less often than they used to

The impact of economic growth and recessions is not evenly distributed

between households

CONTINUED

Those reliant on income in terms of spending

on home improvement are hit by the recession,

more than those with wealth

CAN BE KEYRecession

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the home improver market was more sheltered from

the recession than many other parts of Britain.

One quick indicator of how the economy influences

home improvement projects is to look at another

big-ticket outlay for households, such as a car. Fig. 1.2

shows a strong relationship between car sales and

home improvement. Economists will tell you that

work on home improvement tends to follow car sales

by about nine months. So it provides a neat early

warning indicator.

House pricesIn Fig. 1.3 we plot the average number of home

improvement applications for every 100 private

homes in each of Britain’s local authorities over three

years against the average house price. It seems pretty

conclusive that there’s a strong link.

But look at the data regionally and the relationship

varies in strength from region to region. It is very

strong in Yorkshire & Humber and in the North East,

but much weaker in the South West and Scotland.

Why this is the case is not clear from the data. There

will be a number of factors at play. Certainly we

might reasonably speculate, at least for the South

West and Wales, that one reason for the weaker link

might be the high number of second homes. This

could moderate the relationship between home

improvement and house prices.

The key point, though, is that house prices in most

places have a significant bearing on how much larger

scale home improvement projects are undertaken.

This should not be too surprising as the higher price

housing areas tend to be home to the better paid and

wealthier.

Home salesThe link between the number of sales of private

homes and the money spent on repairing or doing

up homes is generally accepted among economists

who track construction. Finding good data to back

it up isn’t that easy. But we can see when comparing

transactions with the official figures for work done by

contractors on private housing repair, maintenance

and improvement (Fig. 1.4) that the two follow a

similar path.

This doesn’t prove a causal link, but it supports the

idea that the more sales of homes the more home

improvement there will be. But again we would

generally expect more home sales when the economy

is more buoyant and we would also expect more

home improvement.

As Fig. 1.4 shows, over the last couple of years we have

seen a faster rise in housing repair, maintenance and

improvement activity than in residential transactions.

Interestingly, in previous years we have found that

in local authorities where a higher proportion of the

housing stock had been sold there had been a higher

CONTINUED… The changing drivers of home improvement

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

22,000

Priv

ate

hous

ing

RMI (

£’00

0)

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 20160

400

800

1,200

1,600

2,000

Thousands of transactions (England & Wales only)

FIG 1.4

Home sales and private housing repair, maintenance and improvementSource: Barbour ABI, HMRC

0 2 4 6 80

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

Aver

age

hous

e pr

ice

(£’0

00)

Home improvement applications per 100 private homes

FIG 1.3

Home improvements and house prices by local authoritySource: Barbour ABI, DCLG, ONS

CONTINUED

0

4,000

8,000

12,000

16,000

20,000

24,000

Priv

ate

hous

ing

RMI (

£m)

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 20160

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Thousands of new car registrations

FIG 1.2

Car sales and contracted-out private housing repair, maintenance and improvementSource: ONS, SMMT

We would generally expect more home sales when the economy is

more buoyant

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proportion of home improvement applications.

However, this relationship appears to be shifting,

particularly in the hotter markets and is very apparent

when we compare regional data.

So, a once positive relationship between higher sales

and higher levels of home improvement in London,

the East of England and the South East has turned

negative. Higher levels of home improvement appear

now to be related to low levels of sales.

If we look closer at the data we appear to be seeing

falling sales in some of the hotter housing districts,

but in many cases rising home improvement. As

Fig. 1.5 shows the hotter home improvement districts

tend to be found in places where sales are falling.

Trying to unpick all the links and causes is a highly

complex task with different housing markets at

different phases of growth. And not all home sales

are to home movers, with first-time buyers, buy-to-let

landlords and second-home buyers all active in the

market and the proportion of home movers far lower

than in years gone by.

But one possible explanation for some of this change

may be that in areas where house prices are rising fast,

finding and buying a better new home in the same local

neighbourhood becomes harder for many existing

home owners. This would, one might expect, increase

the attractiveness of improving rather than moving.

What we can see however very clearly in the data

is that where there are higher prices, the ratio of

home improvement to home sales is higher as we

see in Fig. 1.6. Were we to cast this with data from a

few years ago we would see that the ratio of home

improvement applications to home sales has risen,

especially in the higher-priced housing areas, which

tends to support the suggestion that would-be home

movers may well have decided to improve their

current home rather than buy elsewhere.

This analysis is clearly a simplification because many

other factors are at play. But we can see suggestions

of this process at play in various locations. It does

seem to point to the notion that in a heated market

there is a relative increase in the proportion of people

improving rather than moving if not an increase in the

actual number of people improving.

An interesting example of where the rate of home

improvement has risen while homes sales have fallen

is Cambridge. Here we have seen a sharp rise in price

and a strong increase in sales between 2009 and 2014.

However, in 2015 and 2016 there has been a marked

fall in sales, presumably as prices became too high for

many would-be buyers. But as sales fell there was a

rapid rise in home improvement applications.

The central point here is that there are both positive

and negative relationships in play when it comes to

the connection between home improvement and

housing transactions. The data available here seems

to suggest a more positive link in the early stages of

recovery and a growing negative link when a housing

market becomes overheated and the option to

improve rather than move becomes more attractive.


Not all home sales are to home movers, with first-time buyers, buy-to-let landlords and second-home buyers all active in the market

In a heated market there is a relative increase in the proportion of people

improving rather than moving

CONTINUED

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

NorthEast

NorthWest

Yorks &Humb

WestMids

EastMids

East London SouthEast

SouthWest

Wales Scotland

Plan

ning

app

licat

ions

per

100

sale

s

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

Average house price (£)

FIG 1.6

Number of home improvement planning applications for every 100 home sales and average house price, by region 2016Source: Barbour ABI, HM Land Registry, ONS, Registers of Scotland

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7-35

-25

-15

-5

5

15

25

35

Chan

ge in

sale

s, 20

16 ve

rsus

ave

rage

of 2

014

& 20

15 (%

)


R2 = 0.3063

FIG 1.5

Home improvements in 2016 and changing level of sales by local authoritySource: Barbour ABI, HM Land Registry, ONS, Registers of Scotland

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IncomeHome improvement tends to be expensive. So

inevitably there is a strong relationship between the

average earnings in an area and the level of home

improvement.

Over the past 5 years the top 20% of households

on the income scale have spent about 14 times the

amount on home improvements than the bottom

20%, according to the Office for National Statistics on

family spending (Fig. 1.7).

Fig. 1.8 plots the Barbour ABI home improvement

applications numbers for each local authority against

average income. It illustrates the strong relationship.

This is no surprise as income will tend to determine

average house prices, so we’d expect to see similar

patterns. Interestingly though, finer regional analysis

shows a much weaker link in the South West,

Scotland and Wales. The link appeared strongest in

the South East.

PlanningDo people turn to home improvement more in areas

where planning for new homes is tougher to win?

Well, the data seem to suggest so. Using Barbour

ABI planning data we can measure the proportion of

applications rejected or withdrawn. The data are from

the past and so may not necessarily reflect current

practice, but they will be indicative and provide a

rough-and-ready measure of planning rigidity for each

local authority.

When we look at the national picture (Fig. 1.9) it

seems that there is a link between it being tougher

to get permission for new homes and more home

improvement. This doesn’t mean there’s a causal link.

It could well be that well-to-do people are both more

prone to improving their homes and also more averse

to new homes being built near them.

As with other factors, the impact of planning

rigidity seems to vary region to region. In London,

Scotland and the South West the correlation

between planning rigidity and home improvement

applications is negligible.

Rural or urban?The most active locations for home improvement

at the moment are in London. But does an urban

or a rural setting influence the likelihood of the

owner submitting a home improvement planning

application?


Inevitably there is a strong relationship between the average

earnings in an area and the level of home improvement

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 70

10

20

30

40

50

60

Plan

ning

rigi

dity

inde

x


R2 = 0.3213

FIG 1.9

Housing improvements and planning rigidity by local authoritySource: Barbour ABI

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 70

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Aver

age

inco

me

full-

time

empl

oyee

jobs

(£’0

00)


R2 = 0.6208

FIG 1.8

Home improvements and average income by local authoritySource: Barbour ABI, ONS, ASHE

54.1%

20.8%

12.6%

8.6%3.9%

FIG 1.7

Proportion spent 2012 to 2016 on contracted-out home improvements by households, by incomeSource: ONS Family Spending

Highest 20%

Second 20%

Third 20%

Fourth 20%

Lowest 20%

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We tested this nationally and regionally. If we look

nationally at the urban-rural split of private homes

there doesn’t seem to be much difference. But if

we look within regions, we see different patterns

emerging. Obviously leaving out London, for many

regions it seems home owners in local authorities

with a higher rural population have a higher tendency

to submit home improvement planning applications

than more urban areas.

The relationship is particularly strong in the Midlands,

where those living in more rural settings seem far

more favourable to home improvement. The same

is true of Yorkshire and Humberside and to a lesser

degree the South West.

In Eastern England and the North East there is only a

marginal difference between urban and rural settings.

Age profileCan you look at the age profile of an area and judge

whether it’s prime for home improvement work? The

answer is not straightforward, but there are clues.

The Office for National Statistics produce family

expenditure figures that show how much different

households spend on home improvement. Fig. 1.10,

unsurprisingly, shows it’s those between 30 and

retirement. It also shows how the pattern is shifting

over time with the Saga generation increasingly

spending more, while those under 50 are spending less.

In 2005, before the recession, the bigger spenders

were the 30 to 50 year-olds. That’s changed and

seems to be continuing to change. Those aged

between 50 and retirement are now the big spenders

on home improvement.

We must remember that the shift in the level of home

ownership across the age groups will be a factor

in this as we increasingly see an ageing profile of

home owners.

KidsDo families with kids spend more on home

improvement? Well a quick look at Fig. 1.11 suggests

they do. It shows the average annual spend recorded

by the Family Spending Survey over two five-year

periods. Those households with kids do appear to

have been spending more. And having a child may

well prove a prompt for home improvement, if the aim

is to expand the available space.

But it would seem, by comparing the spending

from 2012 to 2016 with that of 2007 to 2011, that

households with children are spending less while

other households are spending more. This may be

that home ownership is increasingly dominated by

older and retired owners, who may have long since

seen their children leave home.

But are you more likely to see home improvement

in areas where there are more homes with kids?

That’s a very different question and oddly the answer

seems to be no. That is, if we place any store by

the modest positive correlation, a suggestion of a

greater likelihood of home improvement planning

applications in a local authority where there is a

higher proportion of homes with no kids.

That relationship seems to hold in all regions of the

UK with the exception of the East of England.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

75 or over

65 to 74

50 to 64

30 to 49

Under 30

Average weekly spend (£)

2012 to 20162007 to 2011

FIG 1.10

Changing pattern of spending on contracted-out home improvement work by ageSource: ONS Family Spending

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000

Retired one person

Retired two adults

Non-retired one person

One adult with children

Two adults with children

Three+ adults with children

Three+ adults no children

Non-retired two adults

Average annual spend (£)

2012 to 20162007 to 2011

FIG 1.11

Average annual spend (£) by household typeSource: ONS Family Spending

In 2005, before the recession, the bigger spenders were the 30 to 50 year-olds. That’s changed and seems to be continuing to change

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The dominance of London districts in the home

improvement league table has waned. Yes,

Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster still sat atop

the 2016 table of local authorities. But where there

were 11 London districts in the table last year, that

number has fallen to eight.

The continued solid performance of the South East

means it is still as well represented as a year ago, but

the growth of home improvement activity in East of

England has seen its boroughs making their way up

the table.

The most notable climber is Cambridge, which along

with South Northamptonshire can also claim to be

the most northerly district to feature in this year’s top

25 home improvers table.

With 6.5 planning applications for each 100 privately-

owned homes, Cambridge only narrowly misses out

on ousting Westminster for the number two spot. Two

years ago it only just squeezed into the top 70.

There are common themes that run through areas

where planning applications are more common.

Income and wealth are clearly two. This is reflected

then in areas where house prices are high and

certainly we should expect an upswing in home

improvement in neighbourhoods where house prices

are rising.

We also see on our measure of home improvement

a tendency for the more rural areas to perform

better, especially those in picturesque locations.

This, to some extent, reflects the mobility of wealth

as a proportion of the equity-rich older generations

downsize and migrate to seek their rural idyll. So

places where older folk are more present may also

provide a clue to where home improvement activity is

more concentrated.

These factors, discussed in further detail elsewhere

in the report, are seen in various mixes within the

districts at the top of the list and their flip side in

those at the bottom. What makes Cambridge and its

growth particularly interesting is how rapidly it has

shot towards the top of the table. Meanwhile, it’s most

likely comparator, Oxford, while still enjoying high

levels of activity has slipped down the table.

Cambridge appears to be the epitome of an “improve

not move” location. After a rapid surge in prices,

sales in the city have fallen back sharply while home

improvement has rocketed. It is hard to be certain,

but there is more than a suspicion that with a tight

housing supply and bursting demand, those who

have had a place in Cambridge but now wish to trade

up are finding it financially and emotionally better to

improve than move.

It seems remarkable that Cambridge, which didn’t

make that top 10 in the East of England two years

ago, has seen it home improvement activity more

than double and now, outside of Westminster and

Kensington & Chelsea in London,

has the highest ratio of home

improvement planning

applications to private

homes of any borough

in Britain.

Looking more widely

at the East of England

the growth of home

improvement applications

was down to more than

just the Cambridge effect.

Among many other districts in

the region to see solid growth were

those to the north of London. St Albans

and Hertsmere further secured their

spots in the table and formed with a new

entrant to the table, Three Rivers, an

area of expanding home improvement

encircling Watford.

These are no doubt benefiting

from the spread of the home

improvement boom from central

London to the outer London boroughs

and beyond.

The picture in the South East

clearly echoes this effect,

DISTRICT OVERVIEW…

Which districts top the national table?

It seems remarkable that Cambridge, which didn’t make that top 10 in the East of England two years ago, has seen it home improvement activity more than double

CONTINUED

★

▼

We also see on our measure of home improvement a tendency

for the more rural areas to perform better, especially those in

picturesque locations

REMAINS TOP

Kensington & Chelsea

However, where there were 11 London districts in the

table last year, that number has fallen to eight

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CONTINUED… Which districts top the national table?

with the more affluent commuter towns dominating

the top and increasingly the slightly less affluent

gaining ground.

Outside the three dominant greater south eastern

regions, there are only two spots in the table, one for

the South West – The Cotswolds – and one for the

East Midlands – South Northamptonshire.

The South West had previously been represented

with a couple of districts in the picturesque

retirement and holiday hotspots of Devon. Now the

focus is on what might be seen as more brash money.

The Cotswolds is an attractive spot for the super-

monied classes and this shows up the growing level of

home improvement – in a way chiming with the surge

seen in central London.

As for the East Midlands and the Midlands in general,

the rural aspect tends to be more to the fore in finding

the hotter home improvement spots. Income, wealth

and house prices clearly matter greatly too, so South

Northampton fits that profile extremely well so it

should be no surprise it finds itself a spot in the top

25. It also benefits from being the most southerly

district in the East Midlands, butting up against some

affluent areas of the South East.

But even for those districts to the north outside

the top 25, where less tends to be spent upgrading

homes, the picture is far from bleak. Fig. 2.1 shows the

steady rise in the number of applications for home

improvement continued in 2016.

But there is no getting away from the fact that at the

lower end of the league table, ironically perhaps,

stand many of the areas where the housing stock is in

greatest need of improvement. It is the poorer more

urban areas that tend to occupy the bottom spots

on the table. This is no surprise given that house

prices are one driver of home improvement planning

applications, income another, while a rural setting

tends to be more favourable than an urban one

outside of London.

Blackpool remains rooted to the bottom with Stoke

lifting up to third from bottom. But increasingly there

are Scottish districts dotting the bottom of the listing.

The chances of a planning application being

submitted for any given private house in the

bottom five districts in the list is about one tenth

of those at the top. This gap may have closed a

little over the years, but it gives a good guide to the

disparity between regions when it comes to home

improvement.

But there are good news stories emerging from the

lower ranks of the home improver table. Hull not long

ago was sat among the lowest 10 districts for home

improvement planning applications per 110 private

homes. In the year it takes the mantle of UK City of

Culture it can say it no longer features in the bottom

25. It may well still be in the bottom tenth, but only

just, and signs are that home improvement is on the

rise in the city.

There are some other encouraging signs. The latest

Office for National Statistics Family Spending survey

suggests that the gap in spending by households on

altering and improving their homes is narrowing as

the pressure on incomes has eased in recent years.

Proportionately it is the lower spending regions such

as the North East that have seen the greatest rise

if we compare the 2015 and 2016 total spend per

household with that of 2013 and 2014.

That said, the spread spending on home improvements

and alterations is far from even. The average spend in

London is about three and a half times that spent by the

average household in the North East.

CLICK TO VIEWTop & bottom 25 districts

TOP25

CONTINUED

As for the East Midlands and the Midlands in general, the rural aspect

tends to be more to the fore in finding the hotter home improvement spots

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

40,000

45,000

50,000

Mon

thly

hom

e-im

prov

er a

pplic

atio

ns

Dec08

Dec09

Dec10

Dec11

Dec12

Dec13

Dec14

Dec15

Dec16

Applications 12 month moving average

FIG 2.1

Monthly home-improver planning applications and 12 month moving averageSource: Barbour ABI

STILL RISES

Yearly moving average

The 12 month moving average shows that

there is still a steady rise in the number of

applications

The chances of a planning application being submitted for any given private house in the bottom five districts in the list is about one tenth of those at the top

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Districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

Districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

Rank District Region 2014 2015 2016 Growth (%)*

25 Sunderland NE 0.9 0.8 0.8 -9

24 Hyndburn NW 0.8 0.7 0.8 -16

23 North East Lincolnshire YH 0.9 0.9 0.8 0

22 Wigan NW 0.7 0.7 0.8 5

21 Rhondda WA 0.9 0.8 0.8 2

20 Erewash EM 1.0 1.0 0.8 11

19 Knowsley NW 0.9 0.8 0.8 -2

18 Inverclyde SC 0.7 0.7 0.8 -4

17 Wolverhampton WM 0.6 0.8 0.8 28

16 Barnsley YH 0.7 0.7 0.7 -2

15 Halton NW 0.9 0.8 0.7 1

14 Wirral NW 0.8 0.8 0.7 7

13 Burnley NW 0.6 0.8 0.7 37

12 North Ayrshire SC 0.7 0.6 0.7 -11

11 West Lothian SC 0.8 0.7 0.7 -5

10 Falkirk SC 0.8 0.7 0.7 -6

9 Copeland NW 0.8 0.8 0.7 0

8 Redditch WM 0.3 0.5 0.7 41

7 Dundee SC 0.6 0.6 0.7 3

6 Renfrewshire SC 0.6 0.7 0.6 15

5 North Lanarkshire SC 0.6 0.7 0.6 6

4 Glasgow SC 0.6 0.6 0.6 3

3 Stoke on Trent WM 0.6 0.5 0.6 -18

2 West Dunbartonshire SC 0.6 0.5 0.5 -18

★ Blackpool NW 0.4 0.4 0.4 -1

*2016 compared with average of 2014 and 2015 Source: Barbour ABI, ONS

Rank District Region 2014 2015 2016 Growth (%)*

★ Kensington and Chelsea LN 7.5 7.3 6.8 -8

2 Westminster LN 6.8 6.2 6.5 0

3 Cambridge EE 2.8 5.8 6.5 51

4 South Bucks SE 5.6 6.0 6.1 4

5 Uttlesford EE 5.8 6.1 5.6 -5

6 St Albans EE 4.7 5.2 5.6 12

7 Richmond upon Thames LN 5.7 5.9 5.5 -5

8 South Northamptonshire EM 4.3 5.1 5.5 16

9 Elmbridge SE 5.5 5.7 5.4 -3

10 Sevenoaks SE 5.6 5.6 5.4 -3

11 Hammersmith and Fulham LN 6.3 6.1 5.3 -13

12 Guildford SE 4.6 5.0 5.1 7

13 Three Rivers EE 3.9 4.2 5.0 23

14 Barnet LN 4.2 4.7 4.9 10

15 Hertsmere EE 3.8 4.3 4.9 19

16 Harrow LN 4.0 4.9 4.7 6

17 Chiltern SE 4.2 4.7 4.7 7

18 Chichester SE 4.5 5.1 4.7 -3

19 Redbridge LN 3.9 4.3 4.7 14

20 Cotswold SW 2.8 3.8 4.5 37

21 Hounslow LN 4.1 4.5 4.5 5

22 Windsor and Maidenhead SE 4.3 4.2 4.5 7

23 Hart SE 3.8 4.0 4.4 14

24 Brentwood EE 3.5 3.9 4.4 19

25 Tunbridge Wells SE 4.0 4.5 4.4 4


BOTTOM

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The story of home improvement in Britain is largely a story

of the housing market. More than most other nations, Britain

preserves its ageing homes. Its housing stock is arguably

the oldest in Europe. We have tended to invest more in

repairing, modifying, modernising and altering homes than

we do in knocking old homes down and building new ones.

Our love affair with repair, maintenance and improvement

of housing really took off in the late 1970s and since 1980

construction firms have earned more doing up existing

homes than building new ones. And that obviously doesn’t

include the huge sums spent and much effort expended by

DIY enthusiasts.

So not surprisingly when we look to compare home

improvement activity regionally within Britain, we tend to

turn first to London. It dominates the housing

market and so it dominates the home

improver market.

And what do we see? A more jittery housing

market and similarly a home improvement

market looking far less gung-ho. This is

especially true in the once scorching hot

central London boroughs. Growth in planning

applications for home improvement in London

dipped below the national average.

But despite signs of cooling over the past two years,

Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster still dominate

the home improver league table. Activity has shifted

towards the outer boroughs where strong rises in

house prices have made home improvement a

more attractive investment.

Scotland aside, the rise in home improvement activity

continued to spread throughout Britain in 2016. There was

solid growth in home improvement planning activity in the

Midlands, where the more affluent rural areas remain the

hotter spots, and in Wales.

In Yorkshire & Humber and the North West there was

again solid no-fuss growth. The North East however

was again the poor cousin in the North with growth, but

underwhelming growth.

When all said and done, it was the East of England which

enjoyed the greatest growth, with home improvement

planning applications up 14% compared with the average

over the previous two years and 10% comparing 2016 with

2015. Its star performer was Cambridge, which has

rocketed to number three in the national table of home

improvement districts.

In many ways this is a spill over from London as

the money spreads out, although Cambridge has

its own merits if looked at from a home-improver

point of view – high and rising prices, restricted

stock and a very strong local economy.

Despite being one of the prime locations for

equity-rich migrants from London and the

South East, the South West saw less of

the national growth than most in 2016.

But its profile does suggest that

while it remains a solid spot

for home improvement it is a

stodgier market, less prone to

both surges and falls.

REGION OVERVIEW…

How do the regions and countries of Britain compare?

Rank Region/Country 2014 2015 2016 Growth (%)*

★ London 3.5 3.8 3.8 4

2 South East 2.6 2.7 2.8 6

3 East of England 2.2 2.5 2.7 14

4 South West 2.0 2.0 2.1 4

5 East Midlands 1.4 1.5 1.6 7

6 Yorkshire & Humber 1.3 1.4 1.5 6

7 West Midlands 1.2 1.4 1.4 9

8 North West 1.2 1.2 1.3 6

9 Wales 1.1 1.2 1.2 7

10 North East 1.1 1.1 1.1 3

11 Scotland 1.1 1.1 1.1 -4

England 2.0 2.1 2.2 6

Great Britain 1.9 2.0 2.0 6


Home improvement across Britain’s regions and countriesNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

14

STRENGTH INCommuter towns

The more affluent commuter towns tend to enjoy the lion’s share of home improvement

GROWTH INEast of England

Applications increased 14% in the East of England, compared with the

average over the previous 2 years

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Region comparison


Cambridge took the top spot in the Home Improvement

league table for East of England in 2016 after a surge in

home improvement applications for a second year. It now

ranks third in the national table with more than six home

improvement applications submitted for each hundred

private homes in the borough.

Uttlesford, the north Essex local authority that takes in

Saffron Walden, Stansted, Thaxted and Great Dunmow,

continues to perform strongly and holds a top five spot in

the national table. St Albans and Hertsmere also secured

their spots in the table and formed, with Three Rivers, an

area of expanding home improvement encircling Watford.

Indeed other East of England local authorities have also

shown strongly in home improvement, with the region as

a whole experiencing the biggest annual growth in home

improvement applications submitted, up almost 10%

compared with a national average of just over 3%. This

brought Three Rivers and Brentwood into the national top

25 home improvers table.

But the big story is Cambridge which appears to be

the epitome of an “improve not move” location. After a

rapid surge in prices, sales in the city have fallen back

sharply while home improvement has rocketed. Outside

of Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea in London,

Cambridge has the highest ratio of home improvement

planning applications to home sales of any borough.

But while Cambridge provides icing on the cake for local

builders, the region continues to provide rich pickings.

There was a 14% jump in 2016 in home improvement

planning applications in the East of England compared with

the average over the previous two years.

Overall there were more than 58,500 applications made in the

region, which comes in at about 2.7 for every 100 privately-

owned homes, ranking the region third after London and the

South East and well above the British average of 2.0.

In the region the price of houses seems to be one of the best

guides to where home improvement activity is most likely

and despite having a substantial rural population, there

appears to be little difference between the more rural and

less rural districts.

When it comes to the choice of improve or move the balance

seems to have been tipping towards improve. In 2014 there

were 41 home improvement planning applications for every

100 home sales. That rose to 46 in 2015 and to 51 in 2016.

Cambridge is the stand out district in the region with 1.4 home

improvement planning applications for every sale in 2016.

The Office for National Statistics Family Spending survey

suggests that households in the East of England on average

spent across 2015 and 2016 almost £1,350 a year altering

and improving their homes. That totals to about £3.4 billion

spent in the region.

Great Yarmouth continues to hold up the table, with

applications for home improvement failing to rise over the

past five years. Harlow, Norwich, Ipswich and Peterborough

took the four other places in the bottom five.

FOCUS ON…

East of England

East of England districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

Rank District 2014 2015 2016 Growth (%)*

★ Cambridge 2.8 5.8 6.5 51

2 Uttlesford 5.8 6.1 5.6 -5

3 St Albans 4.7 5.2 5.6 12

4 Three Rivers 3.9 4.2 5.0 23

5 Hertsmere 3.8 4.3 4.9 19

6 Brentwood 3.5 3.9 4.4 19

7 Welwyn Hatfield 3.7 3.5 4.2 15

8 Epping Forest 3.6 3.9 4.2 11

9 East Hertfordshire 3.1 3.2 3.7 14

10 South Cambridgeshire 2.7 3.0 3.5 23


51made in the region for

home improvement

MORE THAN

APPLICATIONS

IS ON THE UP

58,500

Cambridge

leaping from well outside the national top 50 districts

for home improvement in 2014 to 3rd in 2016

TOP10

Households in the region on average spent across 2015 and 2016 £1,350 a year altering

and improving their homes

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South Northamptonshire, centred on Towcester, continues

to hold its place at the top of the East Midlands home

improvement league, as planning applications in the

borough continued on an upward path in 2015.

There were five and a half home improvement applications

submitted in the borough for every 100 private homes in

2016, close to double the number in 2013.

That the borough tops the league should be no surprise.

Its healthy stock of wealthy executive types and flourishing

families and continued strong earnings growth will have

helped drive home improvements. It is the only East

Midlands region to feature in the national top 25 listing.

That said, strong earnings growth also supported an

expansion in home improvement applications in Rutland

in 2016. Its relatively high level of home improvement

application will also have been supported by its large stock

of affluent greys, who continue to be big spenders, if not

increasing spenders, when it comes to doing up their homes.

Over the past two years home improvement activity has

increased, with the more affluent districts boosting the

overall numbers of planning applications in the region

to almost 27,000, with a more gentle rise in 2016 of 4% in

applications after an 8% rise in 2015.

Despite increasing numbers of planning applications, with

an average of 1.6 made for every 100 private homes, the East

Midlands remains below the average across Britain of 2.0.

Looking at what drives home improvement, the evidence

from Barbour ABI research seems to point to three main

factors in the region. Income seems to be the big driver. But

where the proportion of homeowners over 50 is high we are

also likely to see more applications, suggesting that equity

plays a strong role too. And we also see more applications in

rural locations than in the larger urban areas.

Certainly the pattern of more rural boroughs at the top of

the pile in the region is reflected with the urban boroughs

of Mansfield, Erewash and Chesterfield taking the bottom

three places in the regional table this year.

When it comes to the choice of improve or move there are

few signs that the improve option is gaining ground in the

region. There were about 30 planning applications for every

100 sales in the East Midlands in 2016, a similar level to that in

the previous two years. That said in South Northamptonshire

there was broadly one home improvement planning

application for every sale in the borough in 2016.

Looking at the amount spent by homeowners in the

region, the Office for National Statistics Family Spending

survey suggests they spent an average of about £2.6 billion

annually on home improvements over 2015 and 2016. This

averages out at almost £1,100 a year per household on

altering and improving their homes.

FOCUS ON…

East Midlands


★ South Northamptonshire 4.3 5.1 5.5 16

2 Rutland 3.9 3.6 4.0 6

3 Harborough 2.6 2.9 3.0 9

4 Rushcliffe 2.5 2.6 2.9 16

5 East Northamptonshire 2.2 2.3 2.4 8

6 Daventry 2.0 2.0 2.2 8

7 Charnwood 1.8 1.7 1.9 12

8 South Kesteven 1.8 1.9 1.9 5

9 Derbyshire Dales 1.7 1.6 1.9 13

10 North East Derbyshire 1.6 1.9 1.8 5


East Midlands districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

16

16

TOP10

Rural areas tend to be much stronger for home improvement applications than larger urban areas in the region

DOMINANTION IN

RISE IN 20168%

rural locations

In 2016 applications rose 4% to 26,800 following an 8%

rise in 2015

Households in the region on average spent across 2015 and 2016 almost £1,100 a year altering and improving their homes

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East Midlands


London’s super-affluent boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea

and Westminster continued to hold the top places in the

Barbour ABI/FMB rankings for home improvement planning

applications in 2016.

But their grip is slipping as growth in the number of planning

applications in these boroughs has stalled in recent years.

But despite the huge amount of work already done over

recent years the planners are still receiving about seven

home improvement applications a year for every 100 private

homes in these table-topping boroughs.

Across London as a whole the home improvement bug

appears to have calmed down and there was a smaller

increase in 2016 in the number applications than in any

other English region or in Wales.

The real growth in applications in the capital is tending

to come from previously less fashionable, less central

boroughs, such as Barking & Dagenham, Waltham Forest

and Newham, broadly to the outer east of London. This

expected shift mirrors the earlier expansion in home

improvement in the outer London borough of Barnet,

Harrow, Redbridge, Hounslow and Brent, which now feature

firmly in the region’s top 10.

Despite more sluggish growth, there was still a small rise to

more than 100,000 in the number of home improvement

applications submitted to London planning authorities

in 2016, which represents about a quarter of all those

submitted across England.

The driver behind this continued upward trend in home

improvement in London is not surprising. With land values

booming the economics of spending on enhancing and

expanding an existing home can be compelling. And there is

no shortage of people with sufficient wealth, income or both

to invest. Meanwhile, the recent easing in growth reflects the

general softening of the housing market in the capital of late.

When it comes to the balance between home improvement

and home movement, the evidence over the past few years

has weighed more towards improve in London. In 2013 there

were 67 home improvement planning applications for every

home sale. That rose to 72 in 2014, 82 in 2015 and to 86 in

2016. At the vanguard, naturally, are Kensington & Chelsea

and Westminster where over the past two years there were

almost two planning applications for every sale.


suggests that the total spend by households annually on

home improvements averaged £7.4 billion over 2015 and

2016. This means an annual average spend of about £2,500

a year per household, if we include those renting, on altering

and improving their homes.

FOCUS ON…

London


★ Kensington & Chelsea 7.5 7.3 6.8 -8

2 Westminster 6.8 6.2 6.5 0

3 Richmond upon Thames 5.7 5.9 5.5 -5

4 Hammersmith & Fulham 6.3 6.1 5.3 -13

5 Barnet 4.2 4.7 4.9 10

6 Harrow 4.0 4.9 4.7 6

7 Redbridge 3.9 4.3 4.7 14

8 Hounslow 4.1 4.5 4.5 5

9 Brent 4.0 4.3 4.1 0

10 Kingston upon Thames 3.8 4.4 4.1 -1


London districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

14

TOP10

submitted to London planning authorities last year for home improvements, almost a quarter of those submitted in England

MORE THAN

APPLICATIONS100,000

INCREASE

Outer boroughs

London’s boom in home improvement continues

to spread from the central to the outer

boroughs


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London


The district of Northumberland once again tops the list of

boroughs in the Barbour ABI home improvement league for

the North East, narrowly pipping Newcastle to the post.

In 2016 the North East region saw 3% growth in the number

of planning applications made for home improvement

compared with the average over the previous two years.

This growth was less than across Britain as a whole putting

the region yet further behind the national average when

it comes to the likelihood of homeowners submitting a

planning application for home improvement.

The average number of planning applications for home

improvements in 2015 across Britain was two for every 100

private homes. Even Northumberland, which top the table

in the North East, only manages 1.5, while Sunderland at the

bottom of the regional table barely saw half that.

Despite the North East tending to have an older age

group than the UK average, there is a strong link across

Britain between the level of home improvements, average

earnings and house prices. This pattern is very evident

currently in determining why the North East sees less home

improvement than the UK average and in determining

where within the North East to expect most home

improvement to happen.

Within the region this pattern broadly holds.

Northumberland and Newcastle, the two highest ranking

districts are both at the top end for average earnings in the

region and are among the districts with the highest average

house prices. That said, the official data does suggest that

earning in Northumberland slid in 2016, although it may well

also benefit from being a more rural area, which tends to

correlate with more home improvement.

At the bottom of the table we still see Gateshead and

Sunderland where pay growth and general prosperity

remain hard fought.

The balance between home improvement planning

applications and home sales over the past few years has

generally been downward, suggesting little sign of any great

shift among those moving up the housing ladder to consider

improving rather than moving. Across the region there were

less than 26 applications for every 100 home sales.

On a positive note, while the level of overall spending on

home improvements in the region is still well below the

national average there has been an increase to almost

£900 million spent by the average household on home

improvements annually across 2015 and 2016, according

to the Office of National Statistics Family Spending survey.

This suggests nearing £1 billion a year was spent across the

North East by households altering and improving homes.

FOCUS ON…

North East


★ Northumberland 1.5 1.5 1.5 2

2 Newcastle upon Tyne 1.3 1.3 1.5 11

3 North Tyneside 1.2 1.3 1.4 7

4 South Tyneside 1.1 1.2 1.3 9

5 Darlington 1.1 1.0 1.1 5

6 Stockton on Tees 1.1 1.1 1.1 -4

7 Durham 0.9 1.0 1.0 8

8 Middlesbrough 1.0 0.9 1.0 1

9 Redcar and Cleveland 0.9 0.9 0.9 2

10 Hartlepool 1.1 1.0 0.9 -9


North East districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

11

TOP10

determining where home improvement happens in the

North East

NATIONAL AVERAGE

ARE A BIG FACTOR

Further behind

Average earnings & house prices

Despite a rise in home improvement planning applications the

North East still fell further behind the national average in 2016

Households in the region on average spent across 2015 and 2016 almost £900 a year altering and improving their homes

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Ribble Valley has regained its place at the top of the North

West’s league table for home improvement having ceded

its title to the Trafford district of Greater Manchester for the

previous two years. The borough saw a leap in applications

in 2016 after a two year slump in the numbers submitted.

During the recession it tended to be the more rural and

picturesque districts where home improvement flourished.

This still tends to hold for the region today although far less

firmly, with the emphasis for home improvements having

shifted away from the rural idylls, such as Ribble Valley

and Eden.

Boroughs where homeowners are more likely to submit

planning applications for home improvements do tend to be

those where average incomes are higher. This holds for the

North West, although the relationship is perhaps less strong

than elsewhere in Britain.

Ribble Valley ticks that box with higher average earnings

than in most other North West boroughs. Indeed all but

Eden that appear in the top 10 table appear towards the top

of the average earnings table, with Trafford at the top.

So while the pretty retirement and second-home hotspots

still rank high in the home improvement tables, the more

economically potent boroughs are solid spots for home

improvement. While they may not feature in the region’s

top 10, the boroughs that have seen the fastest growth in

applications for home improvement over the past year are

Preston, Burnley and Salford.

Blackpool continues to prop up the bottom of the list of

districts for home improvements in the North West and it

continues to be where we find the lowest average earnings

in the region. In Blackpool last year there was just one

application made for home improvements for every 250

private homes. That was the lowest rate in Britain.

The balance between planning applications for improvement

and home sales has been fairly static for the past three years

as both have risen. The level in 2016 was about 27 applications

for each 100 home sales. But there has been a rise in some of

the hotter markets such as Ribble Valley and Lancaster.

Across the North West in 2016 the average number of home

improvement applications received for every 100 private

homes was a shade above 1.3, well below the average of

2.0 across Britain. The total number of applications for the

region was just over 33,000 in 2016.

In terms of average spend per household, although still below

the national average, the figures from the Office for National

Statistics Family Spending survey suggest an improvement.

They suggest the average household in 2015 and 2016,

including renters, spent almost £1,100 annually on home

improvements. That makes the estimated market for home

improvements in the North West worth about £3.2 billion.

FOCUS ON…

North West


★ Ribble Valley 1.8 1.9 2.3 24

2 Trafford 2.0 2.1 2.2 5

3 Cheshire West and Chester 1.9 1.9 1.9 0

4 Cheshire East 1.8 1.8 1.9 6

5 West Lancashire 1.9 1.7 1.9 5

6 Warrington 1.4 1.7 1.8 18

7 Lancaster 1.4 1.6 1.8 22

8 Stockport 1.5 1.7 1.7 12

9 Eden 1.8 1.9 1.7 -6

10 Fylde 1.3 1.5 1.5 10


North West districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

24

TOP10

made in the region for home improvement

MORE THAN

APPLICATIONS33,000

Despite the emphasis for home improvement in the North West having shifted a bit from the more

picturesque boroughs, solid average earnings helped Ribble Valley regain its top spot


REGAINS ITS TOP SPOTRibble Valley

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North West


East Lothian continued to top the Scottish home

improvement capital league table for 2016, with the number

of planning applications rising for a fifth consecutive year.

However, even in this district, which butts up against the

nation’s capital, the proportion of homeowners submitting

planning applications for home improvements only just

touches the average for Britain.

At just over one application submitted for each 100 private

homes in the nation, Scotland now lies below Wales and

every English region on this count and was the only part of

Britain that saw the number of home improvement planning

applications fall in 2016.

Certainly in terms of planning applications the Scottish home

improvement market does still appear to be flagging relative

to the rest of Britain. There were rises in the number of

planning applications submitted in each English region and

in Wales, whileScotland fell for the second year in a row in

2016. Although, as with Wales, it should be borne in mind that

devolution of powers means that direct comparisons with

English regions are not necessarily always straightforward.

However the Office of National Statistics Family Spending

survey does suggest that overall spending on home

improvements in Scotland is running at an improved level

compared to a very bleak 2013. The figures suggest that

households spent on average about £920 annually across

2015 and 2016. The means the total annual spend across

the nation on home improvements comes in at £1.9 billion.

So it may be that there are fewer but more ambitious home

improvement projects.

The overall number of projects was more than 21,000 in 2016,

but this is below the 22,000 level in 2014. But over the past

year the fall can be more than accounted for in the decline

in applications within Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire

and the continued fall away in applications in Dumfries and

Galloway. Subtract these three local authorities and the

picture is one of a very gentle rise over the past five years.

And there are of course bright spots in the figures. As well

as growth in East Lothian there were solid rises in home

improvement applications for Fife and Perth & Kinross, both

now in the top five of the 2016 league table.

Generally speaking a strong guide to where home

improvements are most likely is where average earnings

are high. This is unsurprising given that more than half of

the spending by households on home improvement comes

from households in the top 20% on the income scale. But

the relationship seems to be less obvious in Scotland.

Across much of Britain home improvement activity tends

to be more prevalent in less urban areas. This is very true of

Scotland. So Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire remaining

stuck to the bottom of the home improvement table in

Scotland is, perhaps, to be expected, despite a moderately

strong rise in applications in Glasgow over the past two years.

FOCUS ON…

Scotland


★ East Lothian 1.8 2.0 2.0 6

2 Argyll and Bute 2.1 1.9 1.9 -6

3 East Renfrewshire 1.6 1.7 1.7 2

4 Perth and Kinross 1.4 1.4 1.5 7

5 Fife 1.2 1.3 1.4 14

6 Edinburgh 1.4 1.5 1.4 -2

7 East Dunbartonshire 1.3 1.4 1.4 1

8 Scottish Borders 1.3 1.5 1.4 -1

9 Aberdeenshire 1.7 1.7 1.4 -19

10 Highland 1.4 1.4 1.3 -5


Scotland districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

14

TOP10

Home improvement tends to be more prevalent in less

urban areas in Scotland

IN APPLICATIONS

STRONGER IN

Decline

Less urban areas

Combined falls in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Dumfries &

Galloway more than account for the national decline in home improvement

applications in Scotland

Scottish households on average spent across 2015 and 2016 almost £920 a year altering and improving their homes

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Scotland


Affluent Home Counties commuter towns still dominate the

home improvement market in the South East and sit atop

the latest regional table, with South Bucks again taking the

top spot ahead of Elmbridge and Sevenoaks.

Key factors that promote planning applications for home

improvement tend to be earnings, wealth and rural and

semi-rural settings. Such areas abound in the Home

Counties, so it’s not surprising South East boroughs have a

strong showing in the national home improver league.

With Sevenoaks, Guildford, Chichester, Windsor &

Maidenhead and Tunbridge Wells all in the top 10 it is fairly

easy to imagine what drives home improvement in the

region and where it is likely to be found. Find leafy suburbs

and quaint town centres with prosperous residents in

reasonable commuting time of London and the chances are

there will be rich pickings for local builders specialising in

residential enhancements.

More than in any other region the relationship between

average earnings in a borough and the level of home

improvement applications holds strong in the South East.

While wealth clearly plays a strong hand, the balance between

wealth and earnings as a driver of home improvement

activity has shifted slightly over the past few years with more

emphasis appearing to be on earnings. During the recession

wealth had been a bulwark supporting home improvement

against the effects of insecurity over income.

There are signs in the region that households may well be

increasingly choosing to improve rather than move. In 2014

there were 47 home improvement planning applications for

every 100 home sales. That rose to 52 in 2015 and in 2016

stood at 54 as planning applications have risen while sales

have eased. In many of the South East’s leafy suburban

districts there was at least one planning application for

every sale in 2016.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the list of boroughs in the

South East for home improvement come Portsmouth,

Southampton and Gosport, more urbanised districts with

some of the lowest average annual earnings. Here these

local authorities received about one application for home

improvement for every 100 private homes, compared with

South Bucks which receives over six.

Measured on the number of applications for home

improvements made per 100 private homes the South East

at 2.8 comes well above the 2.0 average for Britain, and

second only to London. Across the region there were more

than 92,000 applications in 2016.


suggests that households across the region spent about

£5.3 billion on home improvements annually across 2015

and 2016. This means the average household, including

renters, spends about £1,500 a year per household on

altering and improving their home.

FOCUS ON…

South East


★ South Bucks 5.6 6.0 6.1 4

2 Elmbridge 5.5 5.7 5.4 -3

3 Sevenoaks 5.6 5.6 5.4 -3

4 Guildford 4.6 5.0 5.1 7

5 Chiltern 4.2 4.7 4.7 7

6 Chichester 4.5 5.1 4.7 -3

7 Windsor and Maidenhead 4.3 4.2 4.5 7

8 Hart 3.8 4.0 4.4 14

9 Tunbridge Wells 4.0 4.5 4.4 4

10 East Hampshire 3.6 4.5 4.0 -1


South East districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

14

TOP10


MORE THAN

APPLICATIONS92,000

The relationship between average

earnings and home improvement

applications in a district is particularly strong in

the South East

ARE KEY

Average earnings


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South East


Cotswold District having taken the title of home

improvement capital of the South West in 2015 has

cemented its position with a substantial increase in

planning applications in 2016.

The Cotswolds ticks most of the boxes you’d expect

for an area where home improvement is rampant.

Average earnings are high, wealthy folk are moving in, it’s

picturesque and suitably rural and house prices are rising.

This has fuelled a rise of two thirds in the number of

planning applications submitted in the borough for home

improvements between 2013 and 2016 and projected the

district into the national table at number 20.

The picturesque districts of the South West had performed

solidly through the recession. While builders elsewhere

suffered across the nation as home owners curbed

spending as the recession bit, those in the South West were

more sheltered as equity-rich downsizers and movers to

the South West spent more freely on home improvement.

But as the economy has turned up it is in districts where

average incomes are higher, rather than where wealth is

more plentiful, that we have seen the greatest uplift in home

improvement planning applications.

That said, North Dorset and South Hams still rank high

among the leading local authorities in the region for home

improvement. Meanwhile, Bath & North East Somerset

and its neighbouring borough of Mendip, both of which

would tick the picturesque box, have been making their way

up the rankings of late with double digit growth in home

improvement planning applications.

When it comes to improve rather than move, for every 100

sales in the region there are about 40 planning applications

for home improvement. This figure has remained fairly

stable over the past four years. And as one might expect

it is highest in the Cotswolds where there were 85 home

improvement applications for each 100 sales in 2016.

While its star has waned relatively, the South West remains

above the GB average for the submission of planning

applications per hundred private homes with a figure of 2.1,

although it has slipped below the average for England, as

London and the rest of the South has seen a surge in activity.


suggests that households across the South West region

spent about £2.6 billion on home improvements annually

across 2015 and 2016. In the region the average household

spends about £1,100 a year on altering and improving their

homes and that includes those who rent.

FOCUS ON…

South West


★ Cotswold 2.8 3.8 4.5 37

2 North Dorset 3.1 3.3 3.2 1

3 South Hams 3.6 3.4 3.2 -8

4 Bath and NE Somerset 2.7 3.0 3.1 10

5 Stroud 3.2 3.1 3.0 -4

6 Mendip 2.5 2.5 2.7 11

7 Cheltenham 2.5 2.5 2.7 9

8 Tewkesbury 2.3 2.6 2.7 9

9 West Dorset 3.0 2.8 2.6 -11

10 Cornwall 2.6 2.5 2.5 -1


South West districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

37

TOP10


MORE THAN

APPLICATIONS44,000

STRENGTHENED BYequity-rich downsizers

The South West home improvement market is buoyed by migration of equity-rich downsizers and

movers from London and the South East

Households in the region on average spent across 2015 and 2016 just above £1,100 a year altering and improving their homes, the highest outside London

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South West


The Vale of Glamorgan has steadily made its way back to the

top of the league table for home improvers in Wales with a

solid rise in planning applications in 2016.

But it is a sign of the relative weakness in the Welsh home

improvement market that the two home improvement

planning applications submitted in 2016 for every 100

private homes in the local authority area places the Vale of

Glamorgan no higher than average for British local authorities.

Wales scores above Scotland for home improvement, but

ranks only above the North East when compared with the

English regions. Although, as with Scotland, it should be

borne in mind that devolution of powers means that direct

comparisons with English regions are not necessarily always

straightforward.


suggests that households across Wales spent an average

of about £1.3 billion on home improvements a year over

2015 and 2016. So the average Welsh household, when

you include renters as well as homeowners, spends about

£1,000 a year on altering and improving their homes. After

some years of improvement this is getting closer to the

£1,250 UK average.

Last year we pointed to Ceredigion as a Welsh district

well worth keeping an eye on. With the University town

of Aberystwyth its beating heart and a high proportion

of affluent greys in the population, it had been stealthily

moving up the Welsh home improver league.

Well it now sits second in the table after a substantial

increase in the annual number of home improvement

planning applications submitted, tipping last year’s table

topper Monmouthshire into the third spot.

While many of the districts at the top of the table, such

as Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff and Monmouthshire, are

populated with relatively more affluent households, the

relationship between income and home improvement is

much weaker in Wales than in many other parts of Britain.

However, the link between house prices and the level of

home improvements is strong.

Across Wales there was a solid rise in applications in 2016

of about 7% when compared with the average over the

previous two years. This raised the number of applications

to 14,500. This rise broadly corresponded with a rise in

sales so the balance between home sales and planning

applications for home improvement remain stable at about

30 planning applications for home improvement for each

100 home sales.

FOCUS ON…

Wales


★ Vale of Glamorgan 1.5 1.6 2.0 27

2 Ceredigion 0.9 1.4 1.7 48

3 Monmouthshire 1.5 1.8 1.6 1

4 Denbighshire 1.4 1.4 1.6 12

5 Cardiff 1.5 1.5 1.5 -3

6 Anglesey 1.6 1.4 1.4 -6

7 Gwynedd 0.9 1.2 1.4 31

8 Swansea 1.1 1.3 1.4 12

9 Powys 1.2 1.2 1.3 11

10 Wrexham 0.8 1.0 1.3 38


Wales districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

48

TOP10

submitted for home improvement in Wales

APPLICATIONS14,500

IS WEAKERLink to income

The link between income and home improvement is much weaker in Wales

than in many other parts of Britain

Households on average spent across 2015 and 2016 almost £1,000 a year altering and improving their homes

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Stratford-upon-Avon topped the home improvements

league in the West Midlands yet again in 2016. But its

40% surge in the number of planning applications in 2015

inevitably subsided, albeit leaving the level in 2016 still well

up on the 2014 figure.

But the district in terms of home improvement applications

still stands head and shoulders above Shropshire and

Solihull which vied for second place. This is probably no

surprise. In today’s housing market, major investment in

home improvement tends to be more prevalent, among the

wealthy, among the high earners, among the well-to-do older

homeowners, in places of beauty and in less urban settings.

Homes in such districts tend to be well above average and

if planning is tight for new homes or the desirable stock is

limited, that adds to the incentive to upgrade existing homes.

In the West Midlands Stratford-upon-Avon ticks all the boxes

and a few more with its cultural and historical heritage.

The general tendency for more home improvement

applications in rural locations is stronger in the West

Midlands than in any other part of Britain. The link between

high income areas and home improvement also seems

particularly strong in the West Midlands relative to elsewhere

and in 2016 there was a more positive link with home sales.

This points clearly to urban areas, especially those where

incomes are lower than average, scoring low in the

rankings and so it should be no surprise to find districts like

Wolverhampton, Redditch, and Stoke occupying the lower

end of the table.

The balance between home sales and planning applications

for home improvement in the region has been fairly stable

with both increasing. In 2016 there were about 30 home

improvement planning applications for every 100 home

sales. But the ratio varies widely between districts with

Stratford upon Avon, for instance, seeing 66 planning

application for every 100 sales.

Despite its fairly lacklustre placing on home improvement in

comparison to other parts of Britain, the West Midlands has

seen activity grow more than all other regions bar Eastern

England. There was an 11% growth in 2016 in the number of

applications submitted, with submissions rising to 27,500

across the region.

In cash terms the Office for National Statistics Family

Spending survey suggests that households across the

region spent about £2.4 billion on home improvements

annually across 2015 and 2016. This was well up from a

slump two years earlier and suggests that households in

the region now spend on average just over £1,000 a year

per household, if you include renters and homeowners, on

altering and improving their homes.

FOCUS ON…

West Midlands


★ Stratford upon Avon 2.8 4.1 3.5 1

2 Shropshire 2.0 2.0 2.3 12

3 Solihull 1.3 2.3 2.3 29

4 Warwick 2.1 2.3 2.1 -2

5 Wychavon 1.8 2.2 2.1 7

6 North Warwickshire 1.7 1.8 1.9 6

7 Lichfield 1.4 1.6 1.7 15

8 Herefordshire 1.4 1.6 1.7 13

9 Malvern Hills 1.7 1.7 1.6 -4

10 Bromsgrove 0.8 1.3 1.6 59


West Midlands districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

59

TOP10

made in the region for home improvement, a rise

of 11% in 2016

APPLICATIONS27,500

INCREASE40%

in applications made for home improvement in Stratford-upon-Avon

Households in the region on average spent across 2015 and 2016 just over £1,000 a year altering and improving their homes

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West Midlands


Harrogate remains in the top spot for home improvement

among the local authorities of Yorkshire & Humber with a

continued increase in planning applications.

Harrogate’s planners received almost three applications

for every 100 private homes in Harrogate. This was a shade

above twice the 1.4 average for a region which sits well

below the 2.0 British average.

Hambleton, which two years ago occupied the top spot with

a surge in home improvement, has meanwhile fallen back

in the league. But what is clear from the top spots that the

affluent boroughs of North Yorkshire dominate.

If you’re seeking a place in Yorkshire & Humber where

households are most likely to undertake improvements there

are some clear signs to look for. The first is high house prices.

And the top seven North Yorkshire borough also claim the

top seven spots for average house prices. There is a strong

link nationally between the average price of a home and the

propensity of local homeowners to invest in improving their

homes. The link is particularly strong in this region.

Among the more likely homeowners are those aged over

50, those that own their homes outright and those living in

more rural settings or urban settings that are picturesque.

Across the region home improvement planning applications

rose 6% in 2016 compared with the previous two years. This

raised the total to more than 28,000.

When it comes to the households choosing to improve or

to move, the data shows both are rising in the region. But

sales are rising faster. This tends to suggests that on balance

would-be movers are not shifting towards the idea of staying

put and doing up their existing homes rather than trade

up. In 2016 there were 31 home improvement planning

applications for every 100 home sales, slightly down on the

year before. But if you were looking for a district in the region

where there might be a shift to “improve rather than move”

the most likely seems to be York, where sales have eased

while planning applications for improvement have risen.

At the bottom of the home-improver league are Barnsley

and North East Lincolnshire, centred on Grimsby. Across the

Humber is Hull, this year’s UK City of Culture. Two years ago

it was firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. It still finds

itself in the bottom three, but over the past two years there

has been a noticeable rise in home improvement planning

applications.


suggests that the average household in the region,

including owners and renters, spent almost £1,000 on home

improvements annually over 2015 and 2016. This puts the total

annual spend in the Yorkshire & Humber at over £2.2 billion.

FOCUS ON…

Yorkshire & Humber


★ Harrogate 2.6 2.9 2.9 6

2 Richmondshire 2.2 2.3 2.5 9

3 Hambleton 3.0 2.6 2.4 -14

4 York 2.2 2.2 2.3 4

5 Craven 1.8 2.2 2.2 9

6 Ryedale 1.5 2.1 1.9 6

7 Selby 1.3 1.5 1.8 28

8 East Riding of Yorkshire 1.6 1.6 1.7 8

9 Bradford 1.4 1.6 1.7 14

10 Leeds 1.5 1.6 1.7 10


Yorkshire & Humber districts for home improvementNumber of home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

28

TOP10

REMAINS TOPHarrogate

Harrogate remains at the top of the Yorkshire & Humber Barbour ABI home improvement league

table for 2016

The top seven North Yorkshire boroughs for home improvement also claim the top seven spots for

average house prices

CLAIMED BY TOP BOROUGHSTop average house prices


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Methodology & notesThe Home Improver survey is based on the number of planning applications for residential

improvements received by each planning authority compared with the estimate for the

number private homes within that authority.

The estimates of the housing stock are taken from DCLG, Welsh Government and Scottish

Government data sources.

From this a number is arrived at which represent how many home improvement

applications there are for each 100 private homes in a local authority.

Some local authorities are excluded, these are the Channel Islands, Isles of Scilly, Isle of

Man, London Legacy (the Olympic Park). All national parks are excluded except South

Downs, where the applications are assigned to the local authority within which they fall.

Also while calculations were done for all boroughs, omitted from the lists and rankings

are authorities where there are fewer than 10,000 private homes. These include City of

London, Orkney and Shetland.

Because the data tends to be erratic to get a more sensible picture of growth in the latest

year we compare the figure with the average of the previous two years. This we believe

provides a better base.

The spending data used comes from the Office for National Statistics Family Spending

data. This fluctuates greatly so two year averages are generally used.

2011 Census data are used for population comparisons. House prices and sales are taken

from the Office for National Statistics, with enhancements to the more recent figures using

HM Land Registry and Registers of Scotland data. Income data is the mean average taken

from the Annual Survey on Hours and Earnings.

Data for new car registration are taken from the trade body SMMT.

The planning rigidity data are taken from work undertaken by Barbour ABI and represent

the number of project rejected or withdrawn within a planning authority compared with

the number of applications for new residential schemes.

There may be apparent discrepancies with the historic figures published in previous years.

These are inevitable as data are revised.

Looking forward the prospects for home improvement

would appear to be promising. That is, until we factor

in Brexit. This is an unknown. It creates uncertainty and

uncertainty is not normally good for investment decisions.

One big thing in favour of growth in home improvement

is that prices of homes have risen more widely across

Britain. In simple terms if the rise in the value of a home is

greater than the cost of the home improvement then the

investment in doing up your home should make more sense.

But with Brexit comes growing concerns over the availability

of skilled construction labour and a hike in imported building

materials resulting from the dip in the value of the pound.

How all the many factors that determine the health of the

home improvement market play out in terms of upward

or downward investment is almost impossible to assess,

certainly without even knowing the terms of the UK’s exit deal.

Much will depend on the broader economy. The link

between home improvement and growth in the economy is

very evident.

The underlying demographics remain positive to growth.

The number of potential downsizers with plenty of housing

equity continues to expand and the shortage of housing for

the newly retired is seen as limited. This may well continue

to feed demand for more home improvement, particularly in

areas that are attractive to those heading into retirement.

The continued shortage of housing generally should also

continue to provide upward pressure on the demand for more

home improvement, if only through supporting prices and

making improvement more attractive to some than moving.

The economy is on an upward path and the employment

opportunities are increasingly good. With inflation low we

are still seeing real wage growth despite the rate of nominal

wages easing of late.

But if we were to look elsewhere to indicators in other

markets that mirror that of home improvement, notably car

sales, then the future is potentially a bit shakier. The quarterly

forecast from the trade body SMMT in January was for a 5.0%

fall in sales in 2017 and a 2.9% fall in 2018. This might seem

odd to those who spotted that year-to-date March were

well up and broke records in March as buyers responded to

changes in vehicle excise duty. But forecasters still think the

latter part of 2017 will prove pretty tough for car sales.

Now the tendency has been for home improvement activity

to follow a similar path but later. This does not mean the

pattern will necessarily be repeated, nor does it mean the

scale of any potential fall will be the same.

But for those engaged in the sector, it would be unwise to

expect the coming year to be as fruitful in terms of growth as

the past few years. Caution should be the watchword.

OUTLOOK…

Looking forward

The number of potential downsizers with plenty of housing equity continues to expand and the shortage of housing for the newly retired is seen as limited

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