BRANZ forecasts boom in home renovations

BRANZ forecasts boom in home renovations

BRANZ is predicting an increase in retrofit and renovation work to upgrade our aging housing stock.

Currently consented renovation work is about $1.2 billion per year. However BRANZ has forecasted, in its Housing Life Cycle and Sustainability report, that this will rise as over 480,000 homes built from 1940 - 1960 now require major improvements.

This could create more jobs and add an additional $2.4 billion per year to the New Zealand economy.

“About 30,000 houses per year will shortly require major renovation including some wall and roof cladding replacements, and addition of insulation and efficient heating appliances,” says Ian Page, BRANZ Economics Manager.

“This cost is approximately $35,000 per house and with the multiplier effects of construction activity another $2.4 billion could be added to GDP per year.”

In addition to the housing stock over 50 years old, another 150,000 homes built in the 1970s will also require upgrades in the near future.

The most common consented work carried out on houses is additions, in particular garages, decks, bedrooms, bathrooms, en-suites, and relocations of the kitchen and laundry. Much renovation work does not require a building consent, for example ceiling and floor insulation retrofits.

It was also found that ceiling, wall and floor retrofits with insulation are cost effective for most pre-1978 houses, in most locations in terms of energy saved.

“Insulation retrofits are particularly important because they also provide comfort and health benefits with improvements in indoor temperatures,” says Ian.

At present house alterations and additions consents have an average value of $47,100 per consent. This includes a mix of new additions and alterations to the existing house.

Forty-five percent of alteration and additions, by value, are for jobs over $99,000 in value with an average of about $226,000 each. These large consents are believed to include major renovation of the existing structure, as well as some new additions. They currently number about 3,000 per year and are expected to increase significantly in number due to the need to upgrade the aging stock.

Renovating smarter
When renovating, BRANZ recommends that homeowners use that work as an opportunity to install measures that will improve sustainable performance of the home, including:
• replacement of wall linings can enable insulation and cabling (power, communications) to be placed, as well as improving the wall finish appearance;
• re-piling work may be an opportunity to install under-floor insulation;
• windows replacement should be double glazed windows;
• replacement of major appliances such as heaters or hot water cylinders, efficient solid fuel burners or heat pumps, and solar water panels should be considered;
• the renovation of the bathroom and laundry areas may be the time to consider installation of rain water collection for servicing these areas.
This is the first of two BRANZ reports looking at Housing Life Cycle and Sustainability in New Zealand. Click to download SR214 Housing life cycle and sustainability - Part One. The second report is on the cost benefits of various retrofit efficiency measures, by region, and is due March 2010.

ENDS