There has been a significant increase in demand for move-in-ready homes and CIA Landlord Insurance has taken the liberty to research which UK cities are most cost-effective to renovate a home for those looking to maximise their property’s profits.

Using the average rate of tradespeople to disclose the cheapest cities in the UK to ‘flip a home’, the study also looked at the demand for these workers and availability to show the cities that may have more access to certain trades.

London vs Lancaster

The research shows that London is £596 per day pricier than Lancaster when hiring tradespeople and renovating a home in Lancaster would total to £1,723 – a combined day rate of the 10 tradespeople essential to flipping a home.

Structural changes are of particularly good value in this area too as it has the lowest day rates for builders (£173), plasters (£158), and handymen (£56).

When the study turned its attention to London, the data shows that this would be the most expensive city to renovate a home, with the average daily rate of hiring the necessary tradespeople being £2319.

This could largely be because of the higher cost of living here, as well as the need for workers to cover the costs of any equipment, transport, and tools.

Aberdeen vs Luton

Incredibly understaffed, Aberdeen has just 34 skilled tradespeople available per 100,000 people which is an enormous comparison to the city with the highest availability, Luton, which has 990 per 100,000 people.

This should be factored into investors’ and landlords’ plans to renovate since delays are expected in cities with fewer available workers.

Tradespeople in demand

Based on Google search volume, plumbers are the most in-demand tradespeople in the UK, with over 20,000 searches made per month. Another 5,000 searches were recorded for electricians and nearly twice as many as gardeners.

Whilst there are differences across the UK in how much it will cost, and how long it will take to renovate a home, landlords can increase the marketability of their property by doing so making it a worthwhile, long-term investment choice.