Home improvements 'can offset falls'

Those who renovate their homes can add value to them to counteract any drops in the market and now is a good time to undertake such work, it has been suggested.

Editor of Homebuilding & Renovating Magazine Jason Orme commented: "Prices are reasonably good value and any added value that you can add at the moment should offset any potential price falls, or should offset most of them anyway."

Mr Orme said the recent research finding from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) that renovation costs had increased did not represent a situation that is likely to be sustained.

Instead, he predicted, the slowdown in building will means more builders having to seek work other than housebuilding, which in turn will mean a more competitive market for traders offering renovation work.

The Rics survey stated that there had been a 20 per cent rise in renovation work costs in the past two years.