PropertyInvesting.net: Property Investment News

Cambridge had the highest house-price growth in the UK for months last year, with values rising by 14.4pc in 2015, according to the online valuation service Hometrack. That has tailed off as affordability constraints checked rises to just 1.7pc growth in 2016.

Barbour ABI’s data come from planning applications for residential properties. The figures include changes such as loft extensions, but they do not always include other more minor changes under permitted development rights, such as small extensions.

That suggests the level of building work could be even higher.

The report said home improvement activity shifts very closely in line with changes in the economy and that home improvement applications rise and fall, tracking rises or falls in Gross ­Domestic Product (GDP) within about six months.

However, it pointed out that in addition to house prices, consumer sentiment can also boost applications.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said: “Demand for home improvement work is particularly vulnerable to dips in consumer confidence, but at present there’s no sign of a negative Brexit effect.

“Despite gloomy predictions from many economists in the run up to the EU referendum last summer, construction SME workloads have not only held up, they are in rude health.”

London had the most planning permissions in the country, with Kensington and Chelsea topping the list with 6.8 home improvement applications for every 100 private homes.

The level of such applications in the most expensive boroughs within the capital is stalling, and the outer boroughs, in areas such as Barking & ­Dagenham, are now improving more. London had the lowest growth in planning applications of all the regions, apart from Wales.

The report also revealed a stark north-south divide in home improvement: the highest placed northern local authority for the rate of planning permissions sought was Harrogate, which was in 84th place.

www.telegraph.co.uk/