DIYWEEK.net

London households are leading the way in applying for home improvements, according to industry analysts Barbour ABI and the Federation of Master Builders.

The figures show that there were 3.8 applications for home improvements for every 100 private homes in London last year, with the East of England seeing the biggest growth with a 14% uptake. At the other end of the spectrum, the North East and Scotland saw only 1.1 applications per 100 households.

Kensington and Chelsea dominated the best performing district chart, with 6.8 applications for every 100 homes. This was a decrease of 8% on the 2015 figure. Cambridge, meanwhile, saw house sales fall sharply while home improvements rocketed. Outside of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, Cambridge showed the highest ratio of home improvement planning applications to home sales of any borough.

Districts with the most home improvement applications were mainly found in Southern England, making up 18 out of the top 25. Meanwhile, 21 of the bottom 25 districts were located north of the Midlands.

Federation of Master Builders chief executive Brian Berry said: “Demand for home improvement work is particularly vulnerable to dips in consumer confidence but at present, there’s no sign of a negative “Brexit effect”.

“Indeed, the results of this year’s Home Improvers Report show that there was a 6% rise in home improvement work that requires planning permission in 2016 compared to 2015 in Great Britain and these results chime with the FMB’s 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 last month, 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 the second quarter of this year.”

Barbour ABI lead economist Michael Dall added: “2016 saw continued growth of home improvement in areas expected, such as around the capital and other southern English regions. However it is encouraging to see considerable growth in the East of England with many of its boroughs making their way up the table.”

“Looking forward, much will depend on the growth in the economy, as the link between it and home improvement is very evident. In addition, the shortage of housing across Great Britain generally is set to continue, which will undoubtedly help fuel home improvement activity as home owners look to ‘improve not move’.”