Bathrooms - Bathroom and bedroom conversions on the increase

04/03/2008
Home owners are turning to loft, basement and garage conversions to create new bathrooms and bedrooms that add space and value to their property, an industry organisation has said today.

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has noted that the increase in conversions, usually extra bathrooms or bedrooms, has come as the property market experiences a lack of confidence.

Brian Berry, FMB director of external affairs, said: "I think there will be a group of people who will be looking to make better use of the space they have, because obviously the housing market is slowing down considerably."

Mr Berry went on to say that an extra bedroom would add "tens of thousands of pounds" to the value of a house, with greater returns if the property is in a high-value area such as London.

UKTV Style cites research by Nationwide which found that an extra bathroom increases the value of a house by ten per cent on average.

The FMB also said that garage conversions are the easiest and cheapest to carry out, while more expensive basement conversions may be the only option in some cases, for example built-up neighbourhoods.

UKTV Style's website points out other ideas to add value to a property such as solar water heating, installing efficient boilers and refitting the kitchen.