Last week, a landlord from Stoke-on-Trent emailed me to ask,
after reading the Stoke-on-Trent Property Blog, if he should extend his
terraced house making an extra bedroom in the loft. He had a builder friend who
owed him a favour, and thought a good way would be get an ‘inexpensive’
extension.
Having more useable space is generally thought to be
consistent with better quality accommodation and homeowners and tenants are
prepared to pay for it. If you added a bedroom to a two bed terraced to
make a three bed terraced, it will add 10% to the value of the property. Turn a three bed terraced into a four bed terraced
and 9% will be added to the value. Looking at semi detached properties,
and turn a two into a three bed and 12% will be added to the value, whilst
making a three bed semi into four bed will add 9% in value.
However, before you rush off to the planning department
there are some important considerations, whether you are a homeowner or
landlord. What would be the cost of
making that extra bedroom? The average value of a terraced house in Stoke-on-Trent
is currently £81,200 whilst the average value of a semi detached house is £118,800,
meaning to make money the cost of the extension would need to be less than £7,714
on the terraced property and £12,474 on the semi detached house. Talking to a
number of trades people in the town, most are booking up into the New Year.
Also, no matter how good a friend he was, I know of no builders that would
charge as little as that. Maybe the builder was just thinking of a bit of
pointing work on the chimney!
Well, that got me thinking about how bedrooms affected
rental prices and rent-ability as well.
Interestingly below, you will see that whilst bedrooms do have an effect
on the rent that can be achieved and the rent-ability of the property – the
difference does not warrant the expense, hassle and trouble of extending.
- 19.2% of the one bed properties on the market to rent in Stoke-on-Trent have a tenant with an average rent of £406 per month
- 22.7% of the two bed properties on the market to rent in Stoke-on-Trent have a tenant with an average rent of £453 per month
- 22% of the three bed properties on the market to rent in Stoke-on-Trent have a tenant with an average rent of £539 per month
- 37.1% of the four bed properties on the market to rent in Stoke-on-Trent have a tenant with an average rent of £883 per month
