Home running costs drop £1.3k in two years
Monday, 15 November 2010 04:16British homemakers have been given a helping hand since the start of the recession, as the cost of running a house has dropped by nearly 14 per cent since 2008, according to the latest research from Sainsbury’s Home Insurance.
This can be largely put down to improving interest rates, which mean that the average UK home now pays more than 27 per cent less each year on mortgage repayments than they did in 2008. A 15 per cent drop in the average gas and electricity bill has also helped homeowners to cut costs.
These mitigating factors have more than offset the price rises seen in other areas, such as council tax, which has risen by 4.8 per cent on average, and maintenance & repairs, which now cost 5.8 per cent more than they did 24 months ago.
As a result, it now costs £8,059 per year to run an average British home, compared with £9,324 in 2008. Ben Tyte, Head of Sainsbury’s Home Insurance, said: “Although we have officially emerged from the recession, cost-cutting continues to have an impact on the majority of households.
“Hopefully the reduction in the cost of running a home means that fewer people now feel the need to cut back on something as essential as home insurance.”
