Despite shortages of skilled trades and raw materials, 37% of homeowners were more eager than ever to carry out work on their homes, spending an average of £2,706 on home improvements.
Based on the responses of more than 2,000 homeowners, Checkatrade’s second annual Home Pride Index explores how we rekindled our love of the home last year, as we embraced the ability to again use our living spaces as they were originally intended.
We love our homes more now than in 2020
And its clear absence made the heart grow fonder with research from Checkatrade revealing that 35% of us subsequently loved our homes even more in 2021 vs. 2020. This renewed love affair is reflected in the money spent sprucing up our most favourite areas of the home with investment in our living rooms seeing the biggest growth, with spending up 20% from 2020.
Homeowners also flocked to update their kitchen and garden areas, with investment in these typically-social spaces further suggesting our shift to prioritising spaces we entertain, relax and spend most of our free time in.
Changing Rooms
Meanwhile, although 2020 may have been about creating home office areas, in 2021 homeowners began reclaiming their living spaces from pop-up work or study areas. With many returning to workplaces, home office improvements dropped by 26% in 2021 – a trend Checkatrade expects to see continue throughout 2022.
A nation of DIY-ers
Despite us experiencing more freedoms in 2021, these didn’t seem to deter us from tackling DIY at home. In fact, 30% of homeowners reported fewer unfinished DIY jobs in the last year than in 2020, thanks to having more free time (44%), motivation (30%) and money (21%).
But with this, comes green-eyed envy, as a third of people admitted to being jealous of other people’s home improvements - likely adding to the reasons why we’re investing more in home improvement projects.
House proud cities
And finally, as we look at how house proud we are around the country, homeowners from Oxford, London and Aberystwyth are more house proud than any other area of the UK4. Edinburgh, Gloucester, and Portsmouth came bottom of the list – with Edinburgh scoring in the bottom set for the second year running.
Mike Fairman, CEO at Checkatrade, says: “2020 put a strain on our homes, as we repurposed rooms and pushed their capabilities and robustness to its limits. As we returned to a more ‘normal’ way of living in 2021, it’s not surprising that almost a third of us have re-evaluated the relationship we have with our homes. This has no doubt contributed to why we’re all so loved- up - and we’re expecting this to be reflected with continued and heightened home improvement investment in 2022."
