With interest rates low, house prices high and renovation reality TV show The Block continuing to rate respectably — although it’s no MKR — home owners are opting to renovate rather than move. Well, they’re seriously considering it at least.

Sixty-six (66) per cent of Australian home owners are planning to renovate their homes in the next four years, according to research from Galaxy that was commissioned by Winning Appliances. Broken down, 28 per cent of those are planning to get their hands dirty in the next 12 months and 57 per cent are planning an upgrade a little further down the track in one to four years.

Winning Appliances’ Renovation Intention Study was conducted by Galaxy among 1,636 Australians nationwide, aged 18 to 64 years, and weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS population estimates.

“Property prices remain sky high in many areas, restricting people’s ability to climb the property ladder,” said David Crane CEO of Winning Appliances. “Improving an existing home is a popular alternative, and low interest rates mean that more Australians have disposable income to do this.”

Source: Winning Appliances
Source: Winning Appliances

The survey also looked at how much Australian home owners are planning to spend; among those planning to renovate in the next 12 months the average budget is $14,700, down 9 per cent from $16,130 of those planning to renovate in 2014.

Thirty (30) per cent of people have a budget lower than $5,000, against 7 per cent with a budget of over $50,000. Gen Y are officially grown up and some have even managed to get cashed up, according to the survey Gen Y is much more likely to have a budget over $50,000 than Gen X and Baby Boomers.

“It would appear last year’s tough Federal Budget and economic uncertainty prompted Australians to be more cautious about where they spend their dollars with the average budget allocated for a renovation decreasing from last year. Interestingly, most of those with the biggest budgets are now Gen Y — they’re five times more likely than Gen X and three times more likely than Baby Boomers to be planning a $50,000+ renovation,” Crane said.

Source: Winning Appliances
Source: Winning Appliances

When it comes to which rooms should be renovated, the most popular room women want updated is the kitchen (25 per cent of women versus 19 per cent of men)  followed closely by ‘other areas’. The most popular response for men was the bathroom, with 17 per cent of men with versus 13 per cent of women. The laundry was the least popular room to renovate for both men and women.

“Kitchens remain the most popular rooms to upgrade — they’re the heart of the home, so it’s not surprising that many of us want to create a space that’s not only warm and inviting but practical and tailored to our needs. Advancements in appliance technology are enticing keen home chefs to upgrade the kitchen whilst soaring energy costs are also encouraging people to replace old whitegoods with newer, more efficient versions,” said Crane.

Source: Winning Appliances
Source: Winning Appliances

Research conducted by Westpac released in late November 2014 also painted a healthy picture of the home renovation market, revealing that home renovations increased 147 per cent since 2010 and 89 per cent of Australians agreed that renovation is a good strategy to increase the value of their property.

Westpac also found that the majority of renovators fund their remodels using savings (64 per cent) and more than one in four choose to finance their renovations by increasing or topping up their home loan.