The housing market has left many of us with a bitter taste in our bank accounts. Not least those who have built their careers on the foundations of bricks and mortar. Location, Location, Location star Phil Spencer became a high profile victim of the property crash when his business Home Finders went bust. But if anything, the recession has forced us to re-evaluate: renovating not relocating is the new property trend. Mr Spencer who co-hosts the popular Channel Four show with Kirstie Allsopp, told the press: “The correction in the housing market continues to unfold with unprecedented speed. Nobody can know how long this is all going to take to turn around and we should be highly suspicious of anyone who claims to be able to do so.” His property company owed more than £500,000 when it went bust.

 

 

The belief that bricks were made of gold was always something of an illusion – but one that made the fortunes of many. And the idea that property = profit, became one deeply ingrained in our psyche. Today, there are many ordinary families left with the prospect of negative equity or even the threat of repossession. And for those hoping to sell their homes, they're finding themselves grid-locked in a housing market that's slowed to a grinding halt. The strength of feeling around property prices – once a favourite dinner party topic – resulted in rumours that Phil Spencer had received violent threats from frustrated home buyers, prompting the blog headline: 'Phil Spencer’s Location. Location, Location is unknown.' The bubble has definitely burst.

 

Morally, there is a sense of outrage amongst those who have been burnt by the property crash, especially those buyers who bought at the peak of the market when property prices were over-hyped. TV property experts have been dismissed by critics as 'property porn merchants'. We may not have quite quit the property dream, but it's clearly time to relocate our ideas about property. For those who have a property, renovation not relocation is the new buzz word. Loft conversions are going through the roof.

 

Jon Henley's four-part TV series, The Price of Property, examined how the stampede for home ownership has changed Britain's perception of 'home'. Writing in The Guardian, Henley wrote that the property crash could be an opportune time to rethink our attitude to bricks and mortar. Rather than speculating on property, we should merely live in it. Investing in our homes with a loft conversion, or with renovation work is one way of improving our homes rather than considering moving because the market says we should. Homes should have an emotional investment above all else. Henley believes we are transfixed by fluctuations in mortgage rates, house prices and repossession figures, as if 'the very soul of the nation is at stake'.

 

The property crash seemed in retrospect inevitable – small mews houses in London originally homes for horses – reached record high prices of £6m. Property in London became so precious because of the shortage of space. But now homeowners are finding new ways of tackling the space problem. Loft conversions are a realistic, affordable and practical way of creating more space in a crammed city where building upwards is the only option. If you consider flats in London sold for £10,000 in the sixties, but reached £800,000 in the nineties, it's easy to see why we all wanted to believe property was our golden ticket. But with high prices came debt, and now the property market has crashed, staying put and treating our properties like real homes is the only sane reaction. Investing in our homes by creating more space with a loft conversion is a more attractive option than the huge costs of selling and buying to upgrade or upscale a property. 

 

Compared to 30 years ago when half of the UK was renting, today 70% of Britain are homeowners, with the average cost of property more than 50 times that of the average cost in 1970. According to Shelter, housing wealth in Britain went from £44bn in 1971 to £2.5tn in 2002. For those who bought their homes when prices were low, even with the property crash, they are still very much 'quids-in'. It's these homeowners who are opting to improve and renovate their homes with a loft conversion to gain the extra space they need. Selling at this time is not only difficult, it's incredibly expensive, and a loft conversion provides the solution for the need for extra space, whilst letting homeowners emotionally, as well as financially, invest in a sense of home.

 

 

The greedy rush for property was dubbed by Henley as a 'feeding frenzy'. Now it's over, more homeowners are re-thinking their attitude to their properties and becoming homemakers rather than property speculators. Loft conversions are one of the best ways to add an extra room to a home as they don't impinge on garden space (as an extension would), and are more cost effective than cellars that can have a myriad of problems such as damp and lack of light. And although investing in a home shouldn't just be about the acquisition of wealth, loft conversions are the surest way to add value to a property in these unsteady times. But more importantly, for those who believe there's no place like home, a loft conversion can give you that much needed space, so you don't have to leave the family home because of a new addition to the family or the need to accommodate an elderly relative. And if your lifestyle changes and you have to work from home, or you want to create a dedicated space, a loft conversion offers a flexible solution. Our lives, and bank balances, may change, but our sense of home should offer us a feeling of stability, security and comfort. With a loft conversion you can accommodate life's changes while investing in your home.