How to increase the value of property in the UK? 9 tips

If you want to sell your current house or flat, surely you want to get as much money as possible. We have created this article specially for such cases. In it you will find 9 methods that will increase the value of property on the secondary market. In our opinion, it’s definitely worth checking out, as some of the ways require low effort and you’ll gain up to several thousand pounds from them.

Value of property on the second-hand market

The value of property is basically never constant and it is important to keep this in mind. Prices are influenced by events beyond our control, including interest rate increases, as well as specific activities related to the property, such as renovations, the addition of an extension or taking care of the garden.

It is also important to note that the value of property is not synonymous with the offer price. It is very often the case that the parties will agree on a different price than in the announcement, for example because the bank’s valuation turned out to be clearly lower or higher or the interest in the offer was different than the seller had assumed. In addition, during the inspection carried out with a view to issuing a condition report on the building, many faults may come to light. These also affect the real value of property.

For the purposes of the rest of this article, let’s list the most important factors affecting property prices in the UK:

• Location. Prices in London tend to be higher than in smaller cities.

• Floor space. Large houses are much more expensive, especially in the UK where small properties dominate.

• Number of rooms

• Condition of installations, structure and roof

• Year built

• Neighbourhood

• Standard of finishing

How to increase the transaction price - methods

Now that you know what affects the value of a property, it is time to put this knowledge into practice. To increase the price during a transaction, consider:

Extensions and loft conversions

British houses can be smaller especially modern one. According to statistics, the average terraced house is between 64 and 101 square metres. That means that extra space is certainly useful, and the easiest way to get it is with an extension. Unfortunately, this is not a particularly cheap solution – if you plan to extend your house by 15 square metres, the cost will usually exceed £20,000 (source: house extension cost). In return, the value of property can increase by up to 20% this way.

Some owners opt for a major loft renovation. The costs of such modifications are significantly higher, they can reach up to £100,000. In contrast to an extension, the area of the house grows considerably more, because with a loft conversion you could get up to 3 rooms, usually a bathroom and 2 bedrooms. The impact on the value of property is more difficult to estimate in this case, but it certainly cannot be ignored. It is often the case that the buyer will add more than you spent on the construction, because you took care of the formalities and organisation of the whole renovation. For more information, see the loft conversion article.

The amounts we have listed are certainly impressive. Fortunately, you could finance both the extension and the loft conversion with a mortgage. If your house is already subject to a mortgage, you can also use a remortgage. Banks are keen to lend on extensions because this increases the value of the property, so the debt is well secured.

Property renovation

Owners rarely decide to renovate before selling, explaining their reluctance to incur costs. Of course, the expense of renovating a house can be really high. That’s why we suggest you focus on cosmetic issues - repainting the walls, refreshing the wooden details and replacing the cabinets in the kitchen will take a few hundred pounds, and will work on any buyer. It’s not a well-known fact that people buy with their eyes and property is no exception to this rule.

If you decide to renovate your home, be sure to keep receipts for all work and materials. In case of negotiations, you can always present them as an argument to hold your price.

Verification of the paperwork

Although the penalties for self-building are very high, there are still isolated cases where the property built does not exactly match the blueprint. These are not the only formal problems. If your property has several owners, you are a bought it with a help-to-buy scheme or it has been bought for rent, you need to pay a lot of attention to the documents. You should also use a solicitor (conveyancer) who will instruct you carefully on all the paperwork, but you should expect to pay a fairly high cost for such services.

It is also worth ordering a RICS home survey and giving it to the buyer for review. This document provides a reliable representation of the condition of your building, a fair valuation and is a good reference for the market as a whole. The report is not cheap - in 2023, it costs between £300 and £1,500, which depends on the value of the property and the detail of the inspection and analysis carried out. You can find out more about the pricing and content of the report on the RICS website and in the HOA (homeowners alliance) article.

Refresh and deep cleaning

If you don’t want to invest money in renovating your home, at least ensure that the interior is refreshed and tidied up. Eliminating unnecessary items, repairing broken taps or cleaning the walls will increase the value of property in the eyes of a buyer. In addition to this, you may decide to add some decorations to improve the overall look of the interior.

Cleanliness and tidiness are very important for one more reason. A buyer visiting you will be trying to judge how the property has been used, so dust, clutter and dirty dishes in the sink will either put them off completely or be a suggestion of your previous approach to the property.

Estate agents and advertising portals

The spectre of recession, high interest rates and declining affordability can discourage buyers from buying property. The times of high demand for houses and flats are essentially over, so it is worth to use an estate agent. If you know someone who does brokerage, enlist their help. It probably won’t be free, but it’s better to pay 1% of £250,000 than to pay nothing and sell your house for £200,000.

Professional photos

To get anyone to decide to view a house, they must first take an interest in the advertisement. How do you get this to happen? With some good photos! The right lighting, high resolution and lots of shots will make your property more appealing and therefore make people willing to pay more for it.

If you can’t take good photos, it’s worth enlisting the help of a photographer. Very often professional photos are part of the estate agent package. There are people in the UK who deal exclusively with taking property shoots. The services of a photographer cost between £150 and £300, depending on the location, the experience of the professional and the number of photos. For more information, check out this article.

Take advantage of home staging

Home staging is arranging an interior for sale or rental. The right arrangement of furniture and accessories makes the rooms more attractive. Such a procedure definitely makes sense, but it is worth commissioning it if you are no longer living in the property you are staging, otherwise, you’ll negate the effects of the stylist’s work quite quickly. Home staging costs between £120 and £275, with the price depending largely on the location and area of the property. If you decide to go for this service, it is worth combining it with taking professional photographs of the interior.

Good lighting

Another key factor that affects the value of property and enhances its attractiveness is the use of appropriate lighting. Both cleaning the windows and selecting the right light bulbs for the function of each room should pay big dividends.

Be courteous

Very often we forget that both parties to a transaction are simply human. It’s worth being polite and open with the buyer, and there’s a good chance the negotiation and transaction will go much more pleasantly.

How do I check if the real value of property matches the price?

Virtually everyone is looking for ways to get the best possible transaction price for themselves, and verifying individual offers is not easy. If you’re planning to sell your house and you think it’s worth, say, £250,000, you can verify this quite easily.

One of the largest advertising portals - Rightmove - can help. Thanks to its huge database, you will determine the value of a property by means of a comparison to other listings. The first tool is the Rightmove price comparison report, which will show you the prices that have appeared in adverts in your area. You can narrow down your search by the number of bedrooms in a house, for example.

[ The second tool is Rightmove UK sold house prices, which will provide you with information on historical price changes. This is where you will see how the value of property has increased and the condition of the building. It is definitely worth using this data, especially as it is free and easily accessible.

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If you are able to spend some money, you can order the RICS report we mentioned above. The problems highlighted will also allow you to increase the value of your home by ordering repairs. With this set of data, valuing a property should not be difficult.

What if you are the buyer?

If you are buying a property in the UK, you are most likely using an agent. Such a person should be able to help you with assessing whether a house is priced attractively, but it certainly can’t hurt to do your own research. In addition to the tools offered by Rigtmove, it is also worth using the similar functionality of the Zoopla platform. The more information you check and process, the more efficiently you will navigate this market.

Summary

• The value of property depends on the location, age, condition, standard and area of the building. Cleanliness, neighbourhood and the appearance of the garden are also important.

• The value of property is constantly changing and is not the same as the price the buyer will pay

• Sometimes it is worth investing money in preparing a property for sale, because the obtained transaction price will be significantly higher.

• Take care of the small details that you can change yourself or with small expenses. You can really do a lot for £1,000, but you need to make a commitment.

• Try to adapt to the buyers’ needs. With a good approach, engaging in answering questions and preparing the interior properly, you will not only increase the value of property, but also make the sale more enjoyable for you.