The outcome of the General Election and the changes to stamp duty have increased Londoners appetite to improve their homes rather than move house, according to design and build company, BTL Property.
The South West London firm has seen an unprecedented level of demand for its building and design services since the General Election result and as the impact of the increased Stamp Duty costs take hold. BTL Property won a total of £2.1 million worth of building projects in May, doubling its normal average of approximately £1 million of projects per month. To add to this, in the last month, BTL Property has quoted for £6.3 million worth of work.
Billy Heyman, Managing Director of BTL Property, comments:
“There are several reasons for the high demand for building services: a large number of potential clients we quoted for pre-election put their building work on hold as the prospect of a Labour-influenced government loomed. As soon as the result was announced and fears of a mansion tax were allayed, these clients pressed ahead with their plans. In addition to this, the impact of the increased Stamp Duty at the upper end of the market means that fewer people are moving, opting to extend instead – with prices continuing to rise, the costs of moving simply don’t add up and there is less property on the market, giving homeowners little choice.”
BTL Property has also noted that, despite the general increase in work, the size of the projects has not changed, with typical refurbishment project costs between £300,000 and £400,000. However, one difference in the type of building work has been the significant increase in demand for basements following the changes to planning rules in Kensington & Chelsea – owners are keen to submit their applications in case the planning rules change again.
Billy adds: “South West London is an area that’s extremely popular with families who crave more space, leading to a high demand for refurbishment work in the area – basements are an ideal way of adding space when building outwards isn’t an option, and the concerns for changes to planning rules on basements have fuelled the demand.”
