Changing Rooms! Nearly 9 million bedrooms lost in the UK after homeowners repurposed their homes during pandemic

Thursday 17th February, 2022, London: More than four in ten British homeowners (41%) adapted their home to suit their changing needs during the pandemic, costing the nation a huge £36.5 billion, according to new research from Zoopla, the UK’s leading property destination.

Key findings in research:

41% of British homeowners adapted their home to suit their changing needs during the course of the pandemic, sacrificing around 8.8m bedrooms in the process
In their place nearly five million new home offices have been created, alongside over one million home gyms
The average household spent £3,714 adapting their home during the pandemic – that’s a national total of approximately £36.5 billion
The results highlight the opportunity for agents to focus on the versatility of the properties they are listing, and leverage the potential to create a home office or gym

How have our homes changed?

Zoopla surveyed homeowners across the UK to understand how the nation’s room requirements have shifted due to the pandemic and how our homes have changed as a result. Amongst those who said they had to make changes, more than half (53%) say they have entirely repurposed at least one bedroom whilst one in five households (22%) have lost multiple bedrooms. Nationally, this equates to a whopping 8,856,000 bedrooms that have been ‘lost’ amongst the UK’s 24m privately owned homes during the pandemic.

With remote and hybrid working now set to be a mainstay for many, almost half (46%) of those who have made changes have created a home office – which equates to over 4.5m new home offices emerging across the UK. Of these, over half (58%) say that they plan to permanently keep it.

Alongside home offices, there are plenty of other ways Brits have reincarnated rooms in their home since March 2020. Nearly 1.3m home gyms have been created, alongside 984,000 home bars, nearly 900,000 home cinemas or music rooms and 688,800 dedicated classrooms.

The cost of reincarnation

Repurposing entire rooms doesn’t come cheap. The research shows that UK homeowners who adapted their homes spent an average of £3,714, with home offices costing on average £1,735, gyms £1,568 and home cinemas £3,841. Nationally, this is a total of £36.5 billion.

Home offices in particular have been one of the more contentious room changes, with many being forced to give up living space in order to simply carry out their job. In fact, 16% of homeowners who created one say they resent giving up space in their home for the benefit of their employer.

Nearly seven in ten (67%) believe that employers should pay all or some of the cost of setting up a home office, with 12% thinking that they should even offer compensation for the space lost. However, the reality is that just 2% of those who set up home offices say that their employer offered compensation, and only 30% say they made any contributions towards costs at all. Just 10% covered the full costs.

An unhappy compromise?

For those who have had to repurpose rooms, more than half (55%) say this has meant they have had to compromise on their space at home, leaving homeowners less happy with the space they have. Amongst those who have, 28% say they now have less space for guests to stay, 21% say they have less or no privacy and 11% state that their children now have to share a bedroom.

However, this feeling of not being completely happy with your home rises significantly amongst younger homeowners who likely have smaller properties. More than eight in ten (83%) homeowners under 25, 78% aged 25 – 34 and 65% aged 35 – 44 say they are currently having to compromise with their living spaces.

For many, having to change their home setup during the pandemic has highlighted the need to find somewhere new and better suited to their changed needs. Of homeowners who have made changes, nearly a third (32%) say that this has made them consider moving home.

Andrew Marshall, Chief Commercial Officer at Zoopla, says:

“It’s clear that our homes have changed substantially as a result of the pandemic, with home offices in particular becoming a regular fixture across UK households.

“Our research also highlights the opportunity for agents to focus on the versatility of their listings when marketing them to potential buyers – and we’ve heard this first hand from agents out on valuations, too.

“It’s no longer just about marketing a four-bed house – a three-bed plus a home office is proving to have real attraction amongst buyers in a post-lockdown world.

“The results also provide a promising outlook for the housing market more broadly, with this reconfiguration of home leading many homeowners to decide that now is the time to hunt for a property with more space.

“We’re optimistic that this impetus will help release more supply to market over the coming months.”

Kindly shared by Zoopla

Main photo courtesy of Pixabay