The value of a property is dependent on a thousand different factors. How many bedrooms does it have? Will the new owner have to pay for any repairs? What’s the nearest school?
Many of these variables will be outside of your control, but there’s one thing you can do that reliably adds value to a property: make sure it has a lovely garden!
It’s thought that a well-maintained garden can boost a property’s value by up to 20 per cent. If you want to maximise your valuation, you should:
- Keep the lawn healthy and neatly mowed
- Ensure that plants do not become overgrown
- Check that your fences / walls are in good condition and offer sufficient privacy
- Consider adding some outdoor furniture to make the garden look more inviting
If you’re looking for more ways to boost your home’s appeal, there are a number of features that you can add to your garden in order to make it more attractive to potential buyers.
Outdoor tile specialists PrimaPorcelain recently conducted a survey that aimed to determine which garden features have the biggest impact on buyer interest. They came up with 16 different options and asked respondents to tick all the items that would make them more likely to buy a property.
The available answers were, in alphabetical order:
- Bird feeding station
- Deck
- Fire pit
- Flower beds
- Glass sunroom
- Greenhouse
- Hot tub
- Lawn
- Outdoor heaters
- Outdoor lighting
- Patio
- Pond
- Swimming pool
- Trees
- Vegetable patch
- Veranda / sheltered area
The survey received 400 responses from UK residents. The most popular answer was a lawn (51% of respondents ticked this answer), followed by a patio (43.75%) and trees (32.25%).
Flower beds (27.75%) and a deck (25.5%) were also popular answers, with more than a quarter of all respondents ticking these options.
The lesson seems to be that a garden is more valuable if it has an area (whether that’s a lawn, a patio or a deck) that can be used for sunbathing, entertaining, outdoor dining, and general relaxation.
Plant life also seems to be a safe bet, with grass, trees and flowers all faring well in the survey results—although interestingly, a vegetable patch was among the least popular answers, with less than 10% of respondents ticking this option.
Also unpopular were ponds (10.5%), swimming pools (10.5%) and hot tubs (10%). This suggests that a lot of people are put off by the thought of having a body of water in their back garden; these features tend to require a lot of care and maintenance, and really, how often is British weather pleasant enough to make an outdoor swimming pool feel like a worthwhile investment?
When you’re trying to make your garden—and your home as a whole—more appealing to buyers, try to avoid creating too much work for the family who move in after you. The best outdoor space is one that can be enjoyed without requiring too much maintenance!