"Summer buyers will be instinctively looking for the ways a property allows them to bring the outside into the home - garden space and sources of natural light for example - while in winter they’re looking to see how the home can protect and shelter them from the external elements"
- Verona Frankish - Yopa
The autumn and winter period is a great time to sell your home. It tends to be one of the busiest times of year for the housing market, as lots of buyers have ambitions to be in a new home in time for Christmas and the New Year.
However, when prospective buyers come to view your property during the autumn and winter, they’re coming with a different critical eye to that used by buyers in the summer months. Instead of fixating on outdoor space, for example, winter buyers are going to be far more interested in things like warmth, insulation, and cosiness.
To help with this, Yopa has produced a useful guide to the best ways in which sellers can add value to their property before heading to market, each of which is specifically designed to appeal to winter homebuyers.
Double Glazing - Added value: £21,972
The vast majority of homes already have modern, double-glazed windows installed. But if you’re looking to sell an older property and it still has the original single-glazed windows, you’re strongly advised to upgrade. Buyers will want to know the home is well-insulated, and the noise reduction offered by double glazing is also important.
So while installing new windows will cost you an average of £7,000, it could also increase your home’s value by about 10%. Based on the current average UK house price of £289,723, this is a boost of £28,972 which, minus the cost of installation, is a real-term value add of £21,972.
Update internal doors - Added value: £8,889
Internal doors play a large role in the energy efficiency of a home. If they’re thin and ill-fitting due to years of use, they’re going to let warm air escape the rooms you’re most keen to heat. Replacing internal doors can greatly improve a home’s sense of warmth and cosiness, so while it’ll cost you about £2,700 to replace around 10 internal doors, it will really appeal to winter buyers and increase your home’s value by 4%. This equates to an average real-term value add of £8,889.
Replace the front door - Added value: £2,806
Homeowners place a vast amount of sentimental value in their front door. It’s a physical representation of the emotional joy of arriving ‘home’, as well as being a key factor when it comes to kerb appeal - so investing in a high quality, attractive front door is a good idea when selling at any time of the year. It will cost you about £1,250, although this will vary based on size, type and style, but it can potentially add an average of 1.4% to the property value, resulting in a real-term value add of £2,806.
Improve energy efficiency - Added value: £2,537
Energy efficiency is vital to all homes. More and more buyers are avoiding homes with low EPC ratings, and sooner rather than later, the government will insist on minimum EPC standards for all. If your home is on the older side, it could well have an EPC rating of D (or worse).
To bring this up to C - which is a far more palatable rating for homebuyers - you’re looking at an average spend of around £6,155. But it is expected to increase your property value by 3%. Based on the average house price, this is a real-term value increase of £2,537.
Boiler upgrade - Added value: £2,255
It might be the most boring topic in the world, but a good quality, modern boiler is immensely attractive to prospective buyers, so much so that it’s known to instantly increase your home’s value by an average of 1.9% with an initial outlay of just £3,250. This is a value add of £2,255.
Repointing - Added value £1,047
Repointing refers to repairing the brickwork on the exterior of your home. Over time, the brickwork gets damaged and worn away due to weathering - and repointing brings it all back to health. This gives the home a new lease of life visually, but also stops water leaking into the brickwork which can cause damp issues in the home and threaten the structural integrity of the building.
It’s the sort of issue that a good surveyor will spot and point out to any prospective buyers, so fixing it before going to market is smart. It will cost you almost £2,000 to do but could add £2,897 to the property value, which is a value add of £1,047.
CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, commented: “Selling in the autumn and winter is a great idea. There is a real buzz around the housing market at this time of year so your chances of securing a good buyer and price will rarely be better. But you’ve got to do everything you can to make sure your home appeals to buyers at this time of the year.
"Summer buyers will be instinctively looking for the ways a property allows them to bring the outside into the home - garden space and sources of natural light for example - while in winter they’re looking to see how the home can protect and shelter them from the external elements.
"Sellers who understand this difference can really benefit, and spending a bit of cash upfront to make sure your home appeals specifically to winter buyers will almost certainly help you achieve a better price and a faster sale.”
