How street art attracts buyers and higher prices

Not every street or gable end has a Banksy adorning it. But a new survey has revealed that street art can actually add value to both a property and an area in general.

The Affordable Art Fair discovered that 43 percent of Brits would rather have street art than a coffee shop on their doorstep, with 32 percent saying street art mattered more than good transport links, while 29 percent of those quizzed said they'd commission an artist to paint a mural on their own home.

The research - carried out by flyresearch.com in July - also revealed that a third (32 percent) of Brits would pay up to £50,000 more for a property while 80 percent agreed that eye-catching murals add to a positive community experience.

Banksy, recently voted Britain's favourite artist, is an anonymous artist who has taken graffiti to new levels of acclaim and artistry with his pieces now fetching hundreds of thousands of pounds at auction. In 2014, a Cheltenham home owner woke up to discover the artist had painted an enormous mural of three spies on the side of her house, adding an approximate £500,000 in value to her £300,000 home.

Having Banksy pop round in the dead of night to create a work of art on your gable end is an unlikely event for most of us. But many of us do hanker for a touch of creativity to be added to our property and we'd prefer classical artists to modern purveyors to be wielding a brush.

Those quizzed for the Affordable Art Fair research named Claude Monet, the giant of French impressionist painting, as their No. 1 choice to provide their own street art, followed by Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. Others in the top 10 include Georgia O'Keefe, Grayson, Perry and Tracey Emin.

The survey was commissioned for the upcoming Affordable Art Fair in Bristol from September 8-10 with artist-in-resident Alex Lucas. Bristol, the birthplace of Banksy, was voted the UK's street art capital by the survey's participants.

Sam Gare, the fair's director, said: "Street art has an overhaul of its image over the past few years, yet 79 percent of still feel it is an underappreciated art form.

"Mural artists creating beautiful, thought-provoking and inspirational works have decorated our cities from Bristol to Glasgow, and their popularity is reflected in the number of us calling out for more alfresco works on our streets."

Buying agent Henry Pryor said buyers are more likely to be drawn to areas where street art demonstrates how vibrant the local community is.

He added: "We are now seeing architects making space for bespoke alfresco artworks into their new projects and either commissioning one-off works or giving space to rotate works.

"Culture is a positive for prices, and the best acts as a magnet pulling in buyers who admire and appreciate the styles."

Image courtesy of Affordable Art Fair. For details of galleries exhibiting at the Affordable Art Fair in Bristol, visit www.affordableartfair.com/fairs/bristol