You always have wriggle room

John O’Malley: Why trade up for extra space when you don’t always need planning permission to make room at home?

John O'Malley

Move or extend? That's the dilemma faced by homeowners all the time, in particular young families. In a tight housing market where the supply of three- and four-bedroom homes for sale is struggling to keep pace with demand in the larger urban areas, property owners must assess the costs and inconvenience of moving against extending an existing house to meet anticipated needs.

The simplicity of a move to a larger house has obvious ...