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The average cost of repairs required to homes under o er in England and Wales is a hefty £14 000, according to an analysis of Allcott Associate’s March 2024 survey data.
Yet only 1 in 10 homebuyers instruct a survey, meaning that many risk discovering that expensive repairs are needed only after they have moved into their new homes.
Following research revealing that only 9.7% of property buyers instructed a home survey in Q1 2024,1 Allcott Associates analysed data from our Level 3 March 2024 surveys to see what the average cost of repairs was across the month.
We found that:
• 92% of properties required over £1000 of repairs
• over half (58%) needed over £5000 of repairs
• 1 in 3 needed over £10 000 of repairs.
The highest estimated total cost of works across the surveys we sampled was £202 500; this was a 1930s property in Oxfordshire. In this case, the cost of repairs was approximately 10% of the purchase price. This included removal of defective asbestos fittings, demolition of a dilapidated carport, renewal of the gas and electrical systems and replacement of numerous doors and windows.
Another property, this time in Stroud had 48 items that required significant repair, amounting to costs of £69 000.
This information can be invaluable to buyers looking to make an informed decision on whether to go ahead with a property purchase. In some cases, it leads to buyers pulling out of a sale; in many more cases, purchasers use the data to negotiate with the vendors, either to make sure that works are done and issues fixed before they move in, or to reduce the purchase price sufficiently so that they can afford to carry out the repairs themselves after contracts have been exchanged.
As Tim Allcott, RICS Chartered Surveyor and Managing Partner commented: "Skipping a survey can seem like a cost-saving, but surveys regularly save buyers several thousand pounds by allowing them to negotiate on house price and avoid costly surprises after moving in.
"In a buyer's market, like we have today, negotiations are usually successful when supported by concrete data, such as a report from a qualified surveyor."
It is particularly concerning that the proportion of people having a survey appears to have dropped in recent months, down from the figure of 20% of buyers that has been cited in previous years. This could be down to cost of living pressures. However, rising interest rates have meant that many of the homes on the market are listed because people are forced to move, perhaps owing to money pressures, divorce or death; these properties tend to have not been well-maintained, making a survey inspection even more prudent in this current market.
