What have your neighbours done with their homes in Lockdown?

Now that we’re emerging, blinking in the light of some restored freedom, it’s clear that a lot has changed. Your neighbours have likely been busy. Research shows that spending on home improvement has rocketed during the various lockdowns, and the results of that spend are visible now, if you just go for a wander around your neighbourhood.

As you go on your detective walks, it’s worth thinking about why people have spent and what they’ve chosen to do – with months of staring at the same four walls, are people doing them up for their own enjoyment or looking to make the house more appealing for sale? Either way, there are some common themes.

Home renovations during lock down

77% of homeowners investing in outside spaces

After gardens, the most visible improvements to the outside of houses have been made to windows and window coverings. Lockdown has been a boom time for shutters and premium blind companies. Whether adding beautiful shutters to the front of the house, upgrading the kitchen rollers or proving the light control to stop the sun glinting off the screen in your latest Netflix binge, homeowners up and down the country have found that their dusty old curtains don’t cut the mustard. In these days of extreme hygiene consciousness, the combination of style, clean lines and easy maintenance of shutters has put them top of the list. All the more so because they’re so good for both light control and privacy.

Lockdown has been a boom time for shutters and premium blinds companies!

Less visibly, many have chosen to improve their interior spaces, and this has continued as the discussion about home versus office working continues. Home office upgrades show no signs of abating in pace, and research by Zoopla shows that many people have committed to longer-term high-ticket items such as loft conversions, garden offices and extensions. Paint sales continue to run at approximately double pre-lockdown levels.

With lockdown lifting what’s next?

So is this all going to come to an end as lockdown lifts? If anything, consumer behaviour seems to be tipping the other way! Lockdown has caused many people to re-evaluate how they spend their money, and how they, and others, look at their homes.

Now that we’re all going round checking out what our neighbours have done, it seems that there’s even more pressure to keep up with the Joneses, so get out there and compare, or tilt your new shutters just right to let the light in and keep inquisitive gazes out!