More than two million UK households are planning to invest in their home by making ‘green’ improvements.
An estimated £16bn will be spent on projects to boost energy efficiency in 2.2million homes this Spring, research by the AA Financial Services revealed.
According to the survey ‘going green’ was more popular than installing a new bathroom, adding an extension or converting a loft or garage.
David Searle, the AA’s director of financial services, said: “For every person moving home there are four that are staying put and investing money into the property they have.
“Further, our data suggests the drivers behind people’s home improvement plans are about realising value over the long term.
“Making energy efficiency improvements future-proofs a home, cuts domestic bills and it implies that people are serious about taking control of their energy usage.”
Amongst those ‘going green’ the most popular alterations included installing double glazed windows, adding or improving insulation, fitting solar panels or implementing measures to become carbon neutral.
The South West of England emerged from the research as the ‘greenest’ region with 11% of households planning energy efficient alterations. But just 7% of Londoners were going green.
On average, the AA found, households were planning to fork out £7,421 on their energy saving home improvements. One in five people said they planned to borrow the money to finance the work – mostly using credit cards and loans.
Searle added: “There are several ways to finance improvement of this sort – whether using savings, a loan or remortgage option.”
