London has a population of 9,002,488 people and is visited by over 21 million people every single year. That’s a lot of people who just love the big smoke for its theatre, job opportunities, incredible nightlife, multicultural communities, and stunning architecture – to name just a few draws to this incredible city. Whether you own a property in London, or you’re considering developing property there for business, or domestic purposes, you’ve probably considered loft conversions in London as an option at some point.
Loft conversions are an extremely popular extension option across the country, where square footage continues to be at a raised premium, especially in cities and beauty spots. In London, though, the number of loft conversions being constructed is through the roof, literally.
There are many reasons that a loft conversion in London is a good idea and here are just a few of them:
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Long-Term Rental Potential
Source: super-lofts.co.uk
Long-term rentals are always in demand in London, and a loft conversion can provide the average London homeowner with an extra income because of the extra room which could be converted into a bedroom. This is dependent on permissions, though, as some London properties are restricted in whether or not they can be rented out in any capacity.
Property Value Increase
The average house price in London is currently £516,285 as of October 2021. This has bounced up nearly 2% since September 2021. Even the smallest properties have huge price tags in the UK’s capital, which means every square foot within the perimeters of the city is extremely valuable.
For that reason, the boost in the value of a loft conversion in London is bigger than the average UK house.
So, if a one-bedroom house in, say, Nottingham in a suburb is worth £130,000 and is on average 600 square feet, every square foot is worth £461 pounds. However, if the same house in London is worth three times as much at £390,000 and is the same average size, that makes every square foot of the house in London worth £1538.
With these figures as a rough example, you can start to see how a loft conversion could add much more value to a house in London. To put it simply, a two-bedroom house is worth more than a one-bedroom house, but in London that value is exponentially more because London houses are worth more overall.
Adding Airbnb Value
Source: dcdanconstruction.co.uk
Airbnb is currently worth over $75 billion US dollars and the innovative rental company continues to grow in size exponentially as a great alternative to hotels and bed and breakfasts. In London, you can earn hundreds if not thousands of pounds renting out some, or all of your property on Airbnb, especially in premium areas. With a loft conversion, you have a new space to rent out or to utilize yourself whilst guests stay in the main parts of your home.
As with long-term rentals, some properties cannot be listed on Airbnb because of restrictions that stop them from being rented out in any capacity.
The Only Way Is Up
Loft conversions in London are very popular because the ability to extend out is limited. Even with the correct planning permissions, even the smallest slither of space in the capital is used up so there’s no space to build onto. This gets more and more extreme the closer to the center of the city you get. With every property side to side, the buildings are being built upwards to utilize the floor space they occupy.
Londoners are the least likely to have gardens in the UK too, so there’s not even any outdoor space to convert into a construction even if you wanted to. The houses that do tend to have garden space are usually multi-million-pound properties that are so large already, they don’t even need to extend.
Home Office Space
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already moving towards a more remote working dynamic. With many people freelancing and working from home (or coffee shops), or employers starting to embrace remote working abilities for their staff.
Since COVID-19 the number of people working from home has increased, with remote worker numbers going from 27% in 2019 to 37% in 2020. 24% of companies said during this time that they intended to increase the amount of remote working moving forward and this has turned out to be true.
There are currently three times the amount of remote worker opportunities advertised online compared to last year. It differs depending on the industry too, with some industries like IT and Communications seeing nearly 50% of people within their industries working from home to some degree.
As Londoners are the workforce most likely to be working from home, it makes sense that loft conversions are so incredibly popular for the purpose of building office space.
The COVID-19 Baby Boom
Source: pinimg.com
In 2019 live births were in decline, with 44,000 fewer babies born compared to 2018. Things are looking up, though, as May 2020 saw a dip in antenatal bookings in the NHS, but this quickly changed with five times as many bookings made at the end of 2020, the highest number in five years.
Londoners who used their lockdown time to increase their family size are likely to consider extending their homes with a loft conversion to make space for their new arrival. Many people did move from cities to beauty spots after 2020, but those who chose to stay put often did so with plans to extend, to improve their quality of life in a different way.
Will You Plan a Loft Conversion for Your London Home?
If you do intend to plan a loft conversion to extend your London home for any of the reasons above, or for a different reason, ensure you use a trusted construction company.
In a city with complex and challenging building regulations and planning laws, and with such high budgets at stake, only the best loft conversion construction company should be considered. The stakes are just too high to compromise on a building project that demands optimum results.
