Survey shows improvement in home maintenance and upgrades

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Using a two-quarter moving average to smooth the data mildly, we depict agent perceptions regarding levels of home maintenance, and we have five categories of home maintenance and upgrades in the survey.

The top level is that of 'Value Adding Home Upgrades'. After a very weak period around 2011-2013, the survey respondents have more recently reported a rising trend in the percentage of these home-owners 'investing in their properties with a view to adding value' through 2014 and the first half of 2015.

From a lowly 3% of total home-owners estimated to be doing 'value adding upgrades' in the 1st half of 2013, we have seen this percentage rise to 21% by the second quarter of 2015. This remains far from the 43% achieved back in 2004, but is nevertheless a strong number, and is the highest estimated percentage since the third quarter of 2008.

Full maintenance

The next level down is the percentage of home-owners 'fully maintaining their property and making some improvements'. This category appears to have settled, no longer showing a rising trend. However, this is not necessarily due to home owners shifting into lower levels of home investment, but possibly due to a portion shifting up into the 'Value Adding Upgrades' category. In the first half of 2015 this category recorded an estimated percentage of 41%, which is the same as its average for 2014 as a whole.

The next level down, namely the 'percentage of owners not improving but still fully maintaining homes', showed a decrease from a previous quarter's 29% to 27 % in the second quarter of 2015, the third successive quarter of decline.

This all translates into a slight second quarter increase in the category that one would rather want to see declining, i.e. the 'percentage of home-owners attending to basic maintenance only', which in effect means the home will 'go backward' over time. This percentage rose from 9.5% in the first quarter of 2015 to 10.5% in the second quarter.

Those owners allowing their homes to 'get run down', returned a fairly insignificant 1% in the second quarter.

Overall level

Although the second highest category, i.e. 'Maintaining and making some improvements', saw its percentage decline slightly, together with 'Value adding upgrades' the second quarter saw a rise in the combined percentage of the top two levels of home investment, and this has resulted in a further improvement in the overall perceived level of home maintenance and upgrades.

The home maintenance and upgrades market remains vastly improved from 2008/9 levels, and as at the second quarter of 2015 it appeared to remain on its steady strengthening path which it has been on since around 2013.

When tougher financial times arrive, due either to a weak economy or rising interest rates, home maintenance and upgrades are often deferred to a later date, as more pressing expenditure pressures take preference.