Junk reduces value of homes in South East by £12,000 on average

People in the South East of England are wasting £11,975 of the value in their homes by storing excessive amounts of household junk, according to new research from Clearabee, the on-demand rubbish removal company.

Clearabee’s survey, which was conducted by research consultancy Populus, has revealed that – on average – people in the South East of England hoard enough old or useless clothes, video tapes, CDs, gadgets, furniture, exercise equipment and other assorted junk to cover an area of 4.9m2.

With more junk than the national average, the space taken by junk in homes across South East England is equivalent to more than five per cent of the living area in a modern three bedroom house and is worth £11,975 across the region on average.

In one place, 4.9m2 would be sufficient to accommodate a king-sized bed. More than a third (38 per cent) of homes in the South East contain enough junk (8m2 or more) to fill a small bedroom.

Across the UK, the average home has enough junk to cover 4.8m2 of floor space. With house prices currently at £2,054 a square metre, the value of space wasted storing junk in the average UK home is £9,797. In total, UK residents are wasting £259 billion worth of space storing junk in their homes.