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Slash the cost of running your home
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| (C) Rex Pictures |
The annual cost of being a homeowner has hit an all-time high. Discover the eight simple ways to claw back your hard-earned cash
There’s more bad – if not exactly shocking – news for homeowners: the average cost of running a home has broken the £10K barrier, rising a dramatic £1,199 or 12% in just 12 months. The annual cost of running a home now stands at an all-time high of £11,035.
Our monthly mortgage repayments account for around 60% of this cost – and they’ve skyrocketed over the past year following three interest rate rises in the last six months. Home improvements and maintenance account for a further 12% of household expenditure.
These are the two main expenses, but households have also been hit hard by gas and electricity suppliers hiking their prices by almost 27% and 19% respectively since last April. The steep increases were blamed on a worldwide increase in the price of wholesale gas last year – meaning that for many UK households this winter proved extremely costly.
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Council tax misery
The expense doesn’t end there. Our average council tax payments have also almost doubled over the past 10 years – in 1997, the average annual bill for a typical home in band D was just £747 as opposed to the current £1,321, itself up £52 since last year.
These increases have far outstripped inflation or salary rises, meaning as consumers we’re expected to reach ever deeper into our increasingly slim wallets to pay for a service that remains the same – or is even arguably worse.
Fortunately, there is action you can take. By just taking a little time to switch to more cost-effective energy suppliers and shopping around for the best mortgage and home insurance deals, you can claw back significant sums. We show you how.
