HOMEOWNERS are turning to renovation rather than adding their properties to a market bursting with listings.

A recent survey by Archicentre, the building advisory service for the Australian Institute of Architects, found 46 per cent of homeowners looking to sell now planned to stay put and renovate than risk joining a slowing market.

Serial renovator Stephen Shay and his partner Patricia Comerford, who are renovating their house at Shorncliffe on Brisbane's northside, said they were happy to take their time to renovate their home.

"I've done a lot of renovations in the past, probably more than 10 over the years,'' Mr Shay said. "In the past I've looked to fix them up quick to make the fast buck, but because we're happy to stay here for quite a while yet, we want to try and get it just right.''

Paul Eslick, of renovation specialists Reno Kings, said he expected a lot of homeowners would look to improve their properties to make them more attractive in a competitive market.

He said the increased number of homes on the market was likely to force house prices down in the next few months.

"I definitely think we'll see people doing more renovations,'' he said.

"Money is going to be harder to get (from buyers), but I think what's going to happen is we're going to see a lot of savvy investors picking up some really good, cheap buys and doing them up.''

However, Mr Eslick said renovators were still running into problems with sourcing tradespeople because of the nation's skills shortage.

In Queensland, owner-builders can carry out works up to $11,000 on their own land without having to have an owner-builder permit from the Building Services Authority.

"What we also tell a lot of people to do is go out and put an ad in the paper for a retired builder, someone who only wants to do work two or three days a week and still has his licence and his insurance,'' Mr Eslick said.

"We've had people get a lot of response by doing this sort of thing.''

Gold Coast property investor Pat Fleming is on her fourth renovation. Ms Fleming said she found the best way to find reliable tradespeople was to talk to other property investors.

source: news.com.au