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Loans help fund DIY property management

7 February 2005

More than £4 billion will be borrowed to help fund property management, as homeowners and developers seek to improve their homes with refurbishment and additions, according to research by Sainsbury's Bank.

This forms part of a total of £13.9 billion of planned home improvement expenditure over the next six months that will be financed through credit and borrowing money.

This is nearly a quarter of the overall amount of £57 billion projected to be spent on home improvements in the next six months.

Over £3.5 billion worth of home improvements will be financed through credit cards, while £2.8 billion will be financed through re-mortgaging and £1.9 billion through overdrafts.

A further £1.33 billion will come from family, while £265 million will be borrowed from friends.

Rachel Brereton, loans manager at Sainsbury's Bank, advised people seeking a loan for home improvements to shop around. She said: "If you are funding home improvements through personal loans, it pays to shop around for a competitive offer."

The research also shows that women will spend more on home improvements than men, and the most popular home improvement activity is painting and decorating.

Homeowners in Yorkshire and Humberside are the most keen to carry out home improvements, followed by those in Scotland.