Move or improve?

Finding finance

Home improvements cost money, so you may need to increase your mortgage. If you're a NatWest mortgage customer we can usually help you finance your home improvements with extra borrowing(if you meet certain criteria). If you're interested in switching your mortgage to NatWest, have a look at our remortgage offers.

Things to consider

Think about the reasons for your improvement. For example, is it more important to increase your property's value or to make your home more comfortable? Usually it's a bit of both. Bear in mind that if you move soon after making a costly improvement, you may not recover your costs.

Improvements can make a home more saleable rather than more valuable. For example, spending £15,000 on a new kitchen will not raise the value of your property by £15,000. But it will be more likely to attract buyers when you decide to sell.

Space-making improvements

Improvements that add space, add most value. Extensions, especially those where you can't see the join and which follow the style and scale of the existing house, are normally best.

Conservatories can provide an instant space-making solution. The best ones unite house and garden, without substantially reducing the available garden - and look an integral part of the house.

Converting the loft is usually simpler than building an extension. A well-conceived design can create extra space and increase the value of your home by up to 10 per cent. Victorian houses probably offer most scope - the roof spaces are usually larger and the timbers may not need to be reinforced.

Space-making improvements may need planning permission and those that don't will probably need Building Regulations approval.

Other improvements

Installing central heating is usually worthwhile, as are sympathetic building restorations and adding a garage.

Double glazing is a popular improvement but, unless the window frames need replacing, it can be one of the least cost-effective. It could take 15 years to recoup the cost through energy savings, although the comfort and quiet gains are less quantifiable.

Home security, new kitchens and bathrooms and interior decoration all make an impression on potential buyers, but location is important too. In some areas there's a limit to how much improvements can increase the value of a house. If your home is the same style as others in your street, but benefits from a range of quality improvements, you'll probably find it's more saleable.

• More about NatWest extra borrowing for home owners
• More about moving home with NatWest