The pandemic saw millions of us dust off power saws and turn our hands to home DIY, with a wave of garage gyms, home office conversions and garden bars becoming permanent features of homes up and down the country.
Home improvements saw houses transformed inside and out, and for the more adventurous, a significant influx in sales of canoes, RIBs, bikes, bike carriers, snowblades, skis, roof racks and other outdoor equipment – even motorhomes – offered families the means to enjoy the outdoors in new ways.
Add in gadgets and tech such as TVs, gaming consoles and more – all designed to keep us entertained in lockdown – and our new hobbies have amounted to millions in online spending sprees.
We spent an astonishing £110.3bn on home improvements over the pandemic
However, these boredom busters have come at an additional cost. Recent figures suggest that most of us are chronically underinsured, with new equipment leaving buyers vulnerable to significant losses in the event of damage or theft.
Backyard bars and home gyms added to the £266 billion worth of contents people have left uninsured, with the sale of home workout equipment increasing by a massive 5813% since March 2020, according to price comparison experts Idealo,
Over a quarter of Scots have no home contents cover
And data from Powered Now shows just how many people made policy-affecting changes to their homes and contents. Across the UK we spent an astonishing £110.3bn on home improvements over the pandemic with 7% of Brits building an outhouse or shed and 696,000 people having installed a home gym.
According to Nelson Policies at Lloyds, this new and expensive equipment adds further risk to the six million homes in the UK that don’t have any form of home insurance, amounting to the £266 billion of contents at risk.
Currently, over a quarter of Scots have no home contents cover (26%), fourth in the UK behind London (45%), the North East (32%) and the West Midlands (28%), meaning we have a lot of catching up to do to secure our new equipment.
Adding to the chronically underinsured market are those who moved house during lockdown (just under a million people). Data from Moveable shows that 12% of people rushed their property transactions through due to the stamp duty holiday, meaning that acquiring home insurance for valuable items was often neglected – or forgotten entirely.
Simon Bath of Moveable said: “The data shows that an incredible amount of peoples’ possessions and livelihoods are at risk thanks to a lack of insurance, and now so many of us are spending more time at home, it is more important than ever to be fully protected.”
Even for those that that haven’t moved home, new and expensive equipment can add fresh risk
Mr Bath points out that the rush to meet the stamp duty often meant that making key steps through the house purchase process, such as taking out appropriate insurance polices, were often overlooked.
He added: “Home and contents insurance is a tricky subject at the best of times, and one that many people get wrong. When rushing to make the stamp duty deadline, organising a policy can easily fall by the wayside.
“Even for those that that haven’t moved home, new and expensive equipment can add fresh risk – worsened when in a shed or garage.”
There is hope, though. Much of your new home equipment will require a simple policy update, which you can do over the phone or online with your insurer. However, if the new gym is in a shed, outbuilding, or outside entirely, it may not be covered in your policy at all. This leaves valuable gym equipment – or even just extra items kept in the shed for storage – at risk.
So as the housing market continues to move and adapt to post-Covid requirements, buyers and homeowners are being reminded to assess any new expensive purchases and inform their insurer of their details as soon as possible – if it was worth buying, it’s worth insuring.
Click here for regional home insurance data.
- Moveable is a platform that compares prices and availability for home movers to help them move quickly and cheaply.
