Two-thirds of homeowners delay renovations they can't afford

Most UK homeowners would rather improve their current home than move house in the next five years, but affordability is holding many of them back, according to Insight DIY.

What the research found

The report, based on a survey of 2,000 UK homeowners alongside cost data from four tradesperson platforms and lending data from mortgage lender Evolution Money, found that 61% would prefer to stay and improve rather than move home within five years. More than two-thirds said they had already put off a planned home improvement because they couldn't afford it.

Savings habits don't match that ambition. Half of respondents said they'd dip into general savings to pay for a major renovation, but only 34% keep a dedicated home improvement fund. The most common budget cited for a "dream" renovation sat between £20,000 and £40,000 — yet 75% of homeowners had less than £10,000 set aside, and 46% had less than £5,000.

Faced with that gap, 28% said they'd consider tackling a complex renovation themselves rather than paying a professional, purely to save money.

Energy upgrades are wanted, but the upfront cost bites hardest

Three-quarters of those surveyed said they'd consider work specifically aimed at cutting energy bills, but the report singled out solar panels and heat pumps as the upgrades where the upfront bill most often stalls people, since both typically run into five figures before any grant or incentive is applied.

That tracks with what we see in the cost data. A typical heat pump installation currently costs around £12,900, and a 6 kWp solar PV system around £12,600 — both comfortably inside, or above, the £20,000–£40,000 "dream renovation" bracket the survey identified, which helps explain why so many people want these upgrades but haven't booked them in. It's worth remembering that England and Wales households installing an eligible heat pump can claim £7,500 off through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (Scotland's equivalent grant also goes up to £7,500, with an optional interest-free loan on top), and that heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage all qualify for 0% VAT until 31 March 2027 — both of which narrow the gap between the headline price and what a household actually pays. See our Air source heat pump and Solar panels guides for a full breakdown by tier.

Borrowing is filling the gap

With savings falling short, more homeowners are turning to credit. Evolution Money's lending data shows approved home improvement loans have more than doubled since 2021. Loan applications in the £20,000–£29,999 band grew 13% year-on-year in 2025, making it the fastest-growing bracket, and the average approved loan value climbed from £9,527 in 2016 to £21,005 in 2025 — a rise of 120.5%.

That shift matters because it puts more renovation decisions on a finance timeline rather than a savings timeline, which raises the stakes on getting an accurate quote before signing a loan agreement. If you're borrowing to fund the work, it's worth using our "is my quote fair" tool before you commit, so the loan matches the real cost of the job rather than a padded estimate.

What this means for common projects

The £20,000–£40,000 "dream renovation" figure lines up closely with several mid-sized projects homeowners regularly budget for:

• Roof replacement: typically £13,300 – £22,100, comfortably inside the bracket
• External wall insulation: typically £20,300 – £33,800, also well within range
• Kitchen remodel: typically £6,050 – £10,100 for a mid-range kitchen
• Loft conversion: typically £40,500 – £67,600, which sits above the bracket for most households, and explains why it's often the project people save longest for

For smaller jobs, the gap is far easier to close with existing savings. A bathroom renovation (typically £5,450 – £9,100) or a new boiler (£2,200 – £3,650) is well within reach of the 25% of homeowners who have more than £10,000 set aside, even without borrowing.

Our take

The figures suggest the affordability gap isn't really about homeowners wanting the wrong things — three in four want energy-saving upgrades, and most would rather renovate than move. It's that big-ticket items like heat pumps, solar and loft conversions land well above what most households keep in savings, pushing more people towards loans even as the average loan size grows.

When we build our cost estimates, we start from labour hours multiplied by local trade rates plus materials, then check the result against market prices and real quotes — the same approach that underpins every Bathroom renovation and other project guide on this site. If you're weighing up a loan against a renovation, running the actual job through a cost guide first, rather than working from a headline "dream budget", is the simplest way to avoid borrowing more than the work needs.