Two contrast features of our economy simultaneously arrest our attention. While the ‘new housing’ activity has come down, renovations are on a rise.
You can always support the evidence through some economic theory but there is more to it than economics alone, says Michael Matusik for the blog Property Update.
Money intended for housing activity being deflected towards renovations
A lion’s share of money spent on housing activity is going towards property renovations and total capital kept aside for renos has doubled since the last decade.
Yes, compliance costs, property taxes, infrastructure charges and stamp duties have all made new housing developments a little unpopular but the rise in renovations is not attributable to the fall in new housing activity. There is a different angle to this paradigm shift.
The need to be in control of our lives
Matusik asserts that in times when external stimuli (9/11, media) have left us with lesser control over our lives, renovating our homes is our way of saying “I control the place I live in.”
Promoting the feeling of ‘my space”
Matusik also feels very strongly about an abstract entity called “my space’. He feels that new developments are fast becoming carbon copies of each other, failing to promote any shred of individuality. Nothing these days is unique about a new home.
Homes need to talk to their surroundings
Homes fail to interact with the space around them. In times like this, home renovation has become something like an “emergency measure” to salvage the feeling of individuality- “Yes this is my space, I care for it and it needs to reflect itself in and out.”
Taking pride in the productive capacity of brain
The sheer fact that man is a thinking creature is at stake here and this makes renovations a more sought after measure than buying a property.
New housing colonies need infusion of life-element in them. Constructors should forego the herd mentality, seek improvisations, and choose flexibility over hard and fast construction rules. A moving wall here, a multi-functional space there, some green improvement along the line and there you go.
Whether renovating a small home or a big one, improving the existing space should be the mantra rather than merely adding space (often unintelligently). Matusik is right in pointing that this generation needs a lot more “my space”- one reason why we have larger houses despite having smaller households.
Respecting this turn of event, we should look to create individual spaces that reflect the personality of the inhabitant. For instance, if you add a granny home to your plot, it should imbibe the personality of your elderly parents.
What do you seek first during renovation- adding space or improving space?
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