COVID-19 renovation boom: How much Aussies are spending to give their houses a facelift during the pandemic

PHOTO: Victoria and Paul Taylor are renovating their investment property in Mitchelton. Picture: Tara Croser. Source: News Limited

Aussie families have jumped at the chance to renovate their properties during the coronavirus pandemic.

New lending data has revealed just how keen Australians are to give their homes a facelift,, with the average budget coming in at a whopping $63,188.

Victoria came in with the highest average renovation cost at $71,067, followed by Tasmania $67,416 and New South Wales $66,609. Queensland held the median at $60,560.

ACT ($58,466), Western Australia ($54,377) and South Australia ($53,524) were below the national average renovation cost alongside QLD, according to Suncorp Bank lending data retrieved from July 2019 to June 2020.

Brisbane-based builder Mitch Picklington of Mitcon Build has been inundated with construction enquiries from households during COVID-19.

“We have been inundated with requests to quote for different jobs around Brisbane at the moment, whether it’s renovating one room in the house or making plans for a larger scale renovation to use the government’s Home Builder scheme.”

Among the most popular requests were improvements to shared living areas, he said.

“We’ve seen a surge in people wanting to expand their current living areas with an extension and refresh their outdoor entertainment area by adding a pergola, deck or even swimming pool.”