Living on a colourful street could add this much to your house price, research reveals
We're calling it 'the Instagram premium'
Grab your paint brush and roller. Living on a colourfully painted street could add thousands to your house price.
Related: Zoopla predicts these cities will see the biggest rise in house prices in 2020
Turns out we aren't the only ones longing to live on a brightly coloured street. New research by the HomeOwners Alliance and Brewers Paints revealed that living on a colourful street could boost house prices by an average of 20 per cent.
The painted street premium
The HomeOwners Alliance compared valuations figures between a bland and colourful streets in the same areas using their instant online valuation tool. The research found that prices could differ between 2 per cent to 65 per cent depending on house colour.
The biggest price difference was found in Norwich. An average three-bedroom house on vibrant Ten Bell Lane was worth 65 per cent more than on the nearby Victoria Street.
In smaller locations such as coastal towns, the research revealed that colourful streets had a lower premium. However, there was still between a 2 and 12 per cent difference in price in places such as Staithes in North Yorkshire and Kingsland in Cornwall.
'The value of a property can be thousands of pounds more in a street where all homes are painted brightly,' says Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance. 'Of course, we can't all persuade our neighbours to redecorate their exterior walls in pink, green and orange to boost your street's value.'
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'It is worth bearing in mind the premium you will pay for a vibrant street,' she adds. 'As little as a few metres away from a colourful road, there could be a huge saving to be made.'
You might not be able to persuade your whole street to paint their homes to resemble a Paddington Bear set. However, there is nothing to stop you from giving your own home a colourful makeover.
The cost of getting the exterior of your home painted by a professional can vary between £450 and £1,500. Our advice would be to shop around and make sure you get a good deal.
Alternatively, you can do the painting yourself, but you will need to prep the walls first. Start by cleaning, scraping and brushing them, before covering with two coats of exterior masonry paint. To keep your walls bright, aim to repaint them every 10 to 15 years.
Related: How the General Election result will affect house prices, according to experts
Will you be giving the front of your home a colourful makeover?
Rebecca Knight has been the Deputy Editor on the Ideal Home Website since 2022. She graduated with a Masters degree in magazine journalism from City, University of London in 2018, before starting her journalism career as a staff writer on women's weekly magazines. She fell into the world of homes and interiors after joining the Ideal Home website team in 2019 as a Digital Writer. In 2020 she moved into position of Homes News Editor working across Homes & Gardens, LivingEtc, Real Homes, Gardeningetc and Ideal Home covering everything from the latest viral cleaning hack to the next big interior trend.
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