Caravan Insurance

Changes to your property can seriously increase its value and your home insurance quotation, according to new research from Halifax.

Its study compared the responses of customers with those of valuers, and found kitchen improvements and a loft conversion were thought most likely to add value.

In total, 29 per cent of customers surveyed thought a kitchen would increase the house's value, and consequently the home insurance cost; the valuers ranked this joint second behind a loft conversion.

Halifax's chief valuer Patrick Sawdon said of the study: "Well-planned and executed improvements can add to the value of your property significantly.

"But by the same measure, personal taste and botched work can strip thousands off the price of your home," he warned.

Just as well-planned renovations can improve a property's valuation, experts are concerned that doing so by ignoring more pressing structural problems can increase a homeowner's liability to making a home insurance claim.

Jon Sykes from the same organisation warned about the importance of prioritising necessary maintenance over cosmetic alterations and improvements.

"Essential repairs and replacements are always worthwhile," he argued, "as avoiding them can lead to bigger problems in the future."

The new research comes as economists grow increasingly concerned with the sustainability of current high prices, whereby a lull in the market could in turn cancel out any extra investment in a property.