Another Bedroom?
Obviously, the number of bedrooms is a key issue for property value. However, when increasing the number of bedrooms the value added is limited by the floor space available. To further increase the value, more floor area must be added. For instance, simply increasing the number of bedrooms may in some cases actually reduce the value of a property, since some people may value fewer larger bedrooms. For the country as a whole, if a 2-bedroom property has a third bedroom added, the value of the house may only increase by about 3%. In contrast, if this bedroom was added as an extension, approximately 100 square feet in size, the value of the house would rise more dramatically, by around 8% in total.

Or a second bathroom?
As common sense would suggest, prices are higher for properties with more bathrooms. For two identical properties in the same street, an extra bathroom could add as much as 9% to the price. However, the more bedrooms a property has, the greater the value that is contributed by a second bathroom. For example, in a two bedroomed house a second bathroom would be less desirable than in a five bedroomed house.

Home improvements
When improving a property, two avenues that are often considered are adding, or enlarging a garage, and adding central heating. In table 1, it can be seen that adding a double garage, rather than a single one, more than doubles the contribution it makes to the value of a property. Again this will vary between different regions. For example, because of the shortage of space and the price of land a garage will add more to a property in London than one in Scotland.

All figures are based on two years data up to the end of Q2 1999, All figures courtesy of Nationwide Building Society's quarterly review.