People looking to sell their properties are turning to home improvements as a way of boosting its value.
More and more people are taking out unsecured personal loans in order to improve their home, Lloyds TSB has said.
According to the bank, 20 percent more people are looking to fund the renovations through a loan from January to June than there were over the same period last year. The slowing housing market and falling house prices are thought to have contributed to this trend, with increasing numbers of homeowners who would otherwise have moved looking to stay put until the downturn ends.
The home improvements market has also been boosted by those who are still wishing to sell, but are looking to offset the falling prices by boosting the value of their home. Around 55 percent of the loans customers told Lloyds TSB that this was a motivation behind their decision to install the upgrades.
According to figures from the Bank of England, mortgage approvals stand at around half the level they did just one year ago, while lender Nationwide claims that the average house price has fallen by over eight percent in the same period.
David Wishart, director of personal loans at Lloyds TSB, said: "In recent months we have seen a significant increase in home improvement personal loan requests. For the last decade homeowners have been able to sit back and rely on rising property prices to increase the equity in their home but sadly this is no longer possible."
He added: "If you want to trade up and avoid substantially increasing your mortgage, you'll need to add value to the house you're currently in."
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