West London residents with an appetite for doing up their homes has landed Hammersmith & Fulham, Richmond and Brent in London’s top ten boroughs for home improvement. Top of the districts for home improvements in London is Westminster, according to the latest research into planning applications in the Capital.
The increase in home improvement applications in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea does fit with the huge sums of foreign investment being pumped into the central London housing market.
Across London the average number of applications for home improvements as a proportion of the private housing stock is 2.6%. This compares with a national average of just below 2% according to the research, which was conducted by market
intelligence firm
Barbour ABI.
Top 10 London districts for home improvement
While Westminster leads, it followed closely by Kensington & Chelsea and Richmond on Thames, but the level of applications in poorer boroughs is far lower. The proportion of home improvement applications in Westminster is seven times that seen in Barking & Dagenham in 2012.
That said Brent stands out as a borough that is bucking the trend. Despite being the London borough with the third lowest average income it features in the top 10 for home improvements for 2012. It is shown to have the greatest growth in activity over the past three years.
The Government's Family Spending
survey suggests that households across the UK on average spent across 2010 and 2011 about GBP1,000 a year on altering and improving their homes, the average amount spent in London was nearer GBP1,500.
- Westminster - 7.38
- Kensington and Chelsea - 4.79
- Richmond upon Thames - 4.45
- Hammersmith and Fulham - 4.19
- Camden - 4.11
- Wandsworth - 3.22
- Islington - 3.20
- Barnet - 2.81
- Lambeth - 2.74
- Brent - 2.66
Westminster Council tops the London list with more than seven applications for home improvements for every 100 private homes in the borough. That's four and a half times the average (1.64 applications) for Great Britain.
The survey is based on the number of planning applications received by each authority compared with the estimate for the number private homes within that authority.
Other related articles:
What you need to know before hiring a tradesman
Don't move - renovate!
Our Chiswick dream home dilemma
The increase in home improvement applications in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea does fit with the huge sums of foreign investment being pumped into the central London housing market.
Across London the average number of applications for home improvements as a proportion of the private housing stock is 2.6%. This compares with a national average of just below 2% according to the research, which was conducted by market
intelligence firm Barbour ABI.
Top 10 London districts for home improvement
While Westminster leads, it followed closely by Kensington & Chelsea and Richmond on Thames, but the level of applications in poorer boroughs is far lower. The proportion of home improvement applications in Westminster is seven times that seen in Barking & Dagenham in 2012.
That said Brent stands out as a borough that is bucking the trend. Despite being the London borough with the third lowest average income it features in the top 10 for home improvements for 2012. It is shown to have the greatest growth in activity over the past three years.
The Government's Family Spending survey suggests that households across the UK on average spent across 2010 and 2011 about GBP1,000 a year on altering and improving their homes, the average amount spent in London was nearer GBP1,500.
