Houzz, the online community for home improvement says that Homeowners are renovating for the long run in their UK Houzz & Home study.

According to Houzz, homeowners are renovating their homes for the long run, according to the annual UK Houzz & Home Study of more than 2,500 UK respondents found that more than 3 in 5 homeowners have said that they plan to stay in their homes for 11 years or more following a recent renovation.

The median spend for home renovations in was £16,250, whereas the upper spend for higher-budget renovation projects (which represents the top 10% of spend) reached an eye watering £120,000.

Telling however and inline with other consumer purchases was that since the cost of living crisis (and the rocketing of interest rates) over 80% of the renovation projects were funded through savings with homeowners opting to stay away from credit to fund their projects.

“Homeowners are committed to their current homes and we continue to see investments that help spaces to function better for the long term,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of industry marketing at Houzz.

Downturn in Mortgage Market = More Homeowners Staying Put

With the mortgage and housing markets cooling significantly over the last 6-9 months and more so since April and the successive rate rises in May and June the news from Houzz comes with mixed feelings and reservations about previous 'false dawns' since the impacts of Covid.

We spoke to Adverse.Online an online 'bad credit mortgage broker' who summed up the current mortgage market as being "largely driven be rate switchers as opposed to house purchase or equity release"

Broker Tony Higham added that "With a succession rate rises and a cooling of the wider housing market it may come as a little shock to learn that new mortgage approvals are at about 77% of the pre-covid averages as we are heading into July. With some 1.4m homeowners expected to be ending a fixed rate in 2023 there is a general 'wait and see' approach at present.