Why are environmentally Sustainable Homes in High Demand?

In this month's edition, we look at the growth of the retirement living market, analyse the high demand surrounding environmentally sustainable homes and provide you with a guide to creating a functional and productive home office space.

Retirement Living Market to grow by 50% over the next 4 years

The private retirement living market is set to see tremendous growth over the next few years, an increase of 50% in its value forecast between now and 2022. That’s a staggering increase of &15bn, with the market cap sitting at a potential &44bn in four years’ time, and the number of available retirement units subsequently set to increase by 30%.

What’s driving this? Well, at present, there are 10m people in England that are over the age of 65, which is expected to increase to 12m in the next decade. There is a need for those in this bracket to downsize their living, which has thus driven high levels of development in the private sector. This will only increase as this attractive market matures, meaning that pressure is increasing on local UK authorities to plan ahead for the increase in retirement living.

The market is split into two sections; housing with care or assisted living, which makes of 30% and later living with limited on-site care, which makes up the remaining 70%. Given that the UK lags significantly behind several other Western nations like the United States, with only 0.5% of its +65 residents in housing and care schemes in comparison with 5% overseas, it’s no wonder that such focus is being placed on providing appropriate facilities and options for retirees.

Tom Scaife, Head of Retirement Housing at Knight Frank offered the following on the situation:

“Going forward we rapidly need every UK local authority to have a cohesive plan for the delivery of retirement living – so they can be held to account for meeting the needs of their constituents. The government has committed to help those at the beginning of the property ladder with initiatives such as the ‘Help-to-buy’ scheme and stamp duty relief for first time buyers. These initiatives and support should not be constrained to the beginning of the ladder – support should be available at all stages of the property life cycle.

“At a national level, a 20% allocation should be given for retirement living from the UK’s annual housing delivery target of 300,000 homes. Given that 18% of the population is over-65 (almost 12 million people), and that this age is predicted to increase by 20% over next ten years, it is imperative that the issue is addressed.”

Why are environmentally Sustainable Homes in High Demand?

Over the past few years there has been a huge push from almost every industry, as well as the government to become even more environmentally friendly.

Sustainability has been a real buzzword of late, and it seems that consideration for our carbon footprint as a nation is important to homeowners in the UK, also.

BLP Insurance looked into just how vital energy efficiency is for home buyers, and which features are a must-have for their new dwelling.

The survey found that a massive 78% of prospective buyers place a high importance on environmental sustainability when it comes to searching for their next home. This figure varies from city to city, with 81% of those in London considering it a priority. Newcastle at 75% and Sheffield at 68% aren’t far behind, both showing a strong concern energy efficiency.

Participants were asked about which energy efficiency features they'd prefer, and the survey discovered that almost one in four ranked efficient heating and hot water at the top of their list. Taking second place was double glazing, which was followed by solar panels in third.

While traditional homes are still incredibly popular with buyers, there are some that are opting for a new build simply for the advantage of owning a home that was built with more environmentally-friendly fittings.

Although plenty of consideration was shown for efficiency in the study, what is surprising is the small amount of respondents that wanted a smart meter installed. This fluctuates depending on the age group, with the younger demographic more keen to find out exactly how much they’re spending on energy, but on average, only 5% of the overall population feel that this feature is vital.

Kim Vernau, CEO at BLP Insurance said: “As people become increasingly concerned about environmental issues, demand for environmentally sustainable features for new homes will continue to grow. Initiatives such as the Energy Efficient Mortgages Action Plan (EeMAP) will help finance an increase in sustainable homes by incentivising building owners to improve the energy efficiency of their properties or acquire already efficient buildings

“It’s not just buyers but prospective tenants that are more alert to sustainability. With more detailed and transparent data now available to consumers at all levels, and new energy standards being implemented, landlords and developers will need to adapt, taking steps to improve the efficiency of properties in the market.”

Read our helpful guide to creating your ideal Home Office space

A home office is one of the first exciting steps towards running your own business. However, if every aspect of your space hasn’t been optimised for working, it may have an impact on your productivity.

Find the balance between your work style, home life and available space

If you need a quiet location to get on with your work, you could convert a garage or loft or if you prefer a calming view, you should select a room facing the garden.

If you run a business from home so that you can look after the children, an office near the living room or kid’s bedroom would be the best location.

In some cases, it simply comes down to the available space. For some, dining rooms are an obsolete ideal, making it an ideal office space. For others, a cupboard room or spare bedroom that serves no purpose is the ideal candidate for a home office.

Avoid falling into the aesthetics trap

There’s an increasing number of offices that are adding unnecessary technology and furniture purely for the aesthetic rather than function. Take it from us, that 4K tv and wire wrack of industry magazines are an expense your business doesn’t need and will only serve to distract you from your work.

What furniture does your business need?

Will you be keeping lots of paperwork and written records? Then you’ll be needing plenty of storage for keeping it all secure and organised. Will you be working on the road a lot? Then maybe that &500 desk you’ve got your eye on isn’t a necessary business purchase. Your home office can be edited and rearranged at any time, but it's important you buy the right furniture to suit your business.

Choose the right equipment

A worker is only as good as his tools. Firstly, you need to decide what equipment is essential to your business. A high-quality laptop or desktop computer will likely be worth more to your business than a fancy iPad Pro. There’s also the seemingly vital equipment like printers. If you’ll be printing on a daily basis, then this justifies the purchase, but if you only need to print the occasional item, there are probably printer shops in your area that will only charge you pennies for their services.

Consider the colour of your room

We don’t know it, but we subconsciously interact with the colours around us. Cooler colours like blue and violet tend to relax us, whilst reds and yellows grab our attention and excite us. Finding the right colour combos that work for you is the key to creating the perfect home workspace.