According to estate agents, a property should have two bathrooms for every three bedrooms to maximise its value and desirability.
New research from Direct Line Home Insurance conducted amongst real estate specialists reveals that a three-bed home would ideally have an average of 1.8 bathrooms, a four-bed would have 2.6 and a five-bed property would have 3.5. The findings form part of the insurer’s study into the perfect bathroom: bedroom ratio for UK properties.
Across the UK, estate agents estimate that an extra bathroom would add 6.8% to the value of a standard three bed property, amounting to nearly £12,000. For a four-bed property, an extra bathroom is expected to increase the value of the property by 6.2%, equating to nearly £17,000 of added value.
70% of estate agents believe a three bedroomed home should have two or more bathrooms. 95% of estate agents believe that four and five bedroomed properties need to have more than one bathroom, with 43% stating that a five bedroomed property should have at least three bathrooms.
On a regional basis, estate agents in Liverpool believe that there should be twice as many bathrooms per three-bed property than those in Cardiff (an average of 2.6 bathrooms vs 1.3 bathrooms). An extra bathroom is estimated to add the most value to three-bed properties in Nottingham (9.4%), while in Edinburgh it adds the lowest value (5.3%). An extra bathroom adds the most financial value to a property in London (£26,485) and the least to a property in Liverpool (£5,967).
Regional breakdown of value added by extra bathrooms
| City | Average 3-bed property value | Estimated value added by an extra bathroom (%) | Estimated value added by an extra bathroom (£) | Property value with added bathroom |
| Nottingham | £118,573 | £11,146 | £129,719 | |
| Sheffield | £110,860 | £9,478 | £120,338 | |
| Bristol | £234,200 | £19,712 | £253,912 | |
| Newcastle | £107,929 | £7,123 | £115,052 | |
| Manchester | £130,602 | £8,199 | £138,801 | |
| Birmingham | £124,902 | £7,772 | £132,674 | |
| Liverpool | £99,457 | £5,967 | £105,424 | |
| Cardiff | £165,188 | £9,361 | £174,549 | |
| London | £481,543 | £26,485 | £508,028 | |
| Edinburgh | £186,088 | £9,886 | £195,974 | |
| All UK | £174,340 | £11,887 | £186,227 |
Source: Direct Line Home Insurance 2017
With space at a premium in UK homes, 57% of estate agents believe that a shower room adds as much value to a property as a bathroom, especially among younger homeowners without children. An en-suite shower room is estimated to add 5.1% to the value of a property, worth £10,500. With the average cost of installing a new bathroom estimated at between £4,000 and £5,0003, this represents a return on investment of around 200%.
Rebecca Clapham, head of household products at Direct Line, said: “With space in such short supply in homes across the country and the cost of moving sky high, it is interesting to find out directly from the experts what homeowners can do to add value to their property. A new bathroom can add around £12,000 to the value of a home, which compared to the cost of fitting one, is a significant return and may be a good option for people wishing to improve their home but without the space to add an extra bedroom or improve their kitchen.
“If having an extra bathroom, en-suite shower room or cloakroom fitted, make sure you use a qualified plumber. It can be tempting to try and do things yourself to save money but if you get it wrong, a dodgy plumbing job could end up costing much more if pipes burst and cause damage to your home.”
While extra bathrooms do add value to homes, the majority of estate agents reported that a new kitchen (86%) or another bedroom (91%) would actually be more desirable than a new bathroom.
