Pent-up demand for home renos beats sale push

Demand for home renovations has picked up on the Sunshine Coast as one sliver of silver lining from the coronavirus pandemic.

generic pic of builder inside new house under construction

DEMAND for home renovations has picked up on the Sunshine Coast, one sliver of silver lining from the coronavirus pandemic, a new report has found.

The latest Herron Todd White report revealed that time had become a "valuable commodity" during the past few months of the lockdown.

With stock at "low levels" and an "uncertainty" surrounding the property market, the report said that owners were opting to increase the value of their home rather than selling up.

READ: 'State of flux': How virus has hit Coast property market

"At the moment, there is plenty going on in the home improvement and maintenance space," the report read.

"The thought of upgrading and selling the house has slowly been losing some of its appetite, especially if you really like the area you live in.

"The feedback from local tradies, hardware shops and garden centres is that business has been pretty good as people look to upgrade their existing property.

"We have also received feedback that a local swimming pool building franchise has 21 new projects halfway through the month of May compared to seven for all of April.

"This appears to be occurring right throughout all the established areas of the coast, with older homes being transformed to little gems.

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"Sure, some of this home improvement activity has been completed to add value to the home so that when they do go to sell, it is presented in the best possible condition.

"If the property has a reasonable floor plan, the recent results of these renovated properties have shown good returns.

"We note that some feedback from agents is that a number of builders have been looking for some little side projects just in case there is a bit of a slowdown in the future."

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