Estate agents have come up with the ideal ratio of bedrooms to bathrooms for home buyers.

Direct Line surveyed 100 estate agents across ten of the UK’s biggest cities, concluding that a three-bed home would ideally have an average of 1.8 bathrooms, a four-bed would have 2.6 and a five-bed property would have 3.5.

Almost three-quarters (70%) of estate agents, believed a three-bedroom home should have two or more bathrooms, while 95% said a four or five bedroom property needs to have more than one bathroom, and 43% said a five-bedroom property should have at least three bathrooms.

The research includes estimates from estate agents that an extra bathroom would add 6.8% to the value of a standard three-bed property and 6.2% on to a four-bed.

Using the Hometrack UK Cities House Price Index average value of £208,200, the insurer concludes an extra bathroom could add £12,000 on to a three-bedroom property.

Rebecca Clapham, head of household products at Direct Line, said: “With space in such short supply in homes across the country and the cost of moving sky high, it is interesting to find out directly from the experts what home owners can do to add value to their property.

“A new bathroom can add around £12,000 to the value of a home, which compared to the cost of fitting one, is a significant return and may be a good option for people wishing to improve their home but without the space to add an extra bedroom or improve their kitchen.”

However, the analysis doesn’t seem to acknowledge how changing a bedroom into a bathroom could actually impact a property’s value, so EYE asked some agents.

Aaron Cambden, owner of Nottingham-based Fairview Estates, said: “Bedrooms remain the key focus and are more valuable than an additional bathroom, until you’re looking at property with four or more bedrooms; at this point, extra bathrooms do start to become a more important factor.”

Brendan Roberts, director at London agents Aylesford International, added: “In central London where values are high there is a commensurate expectation that a flat with two bedrooms has two bathrooms, three beds has at least two bathrooms, four beds at least two and preferably three baths, or even four.

“The higher up the price ranges you go, the higher the expectation in both specification and finishes and in the number and luxury of bathrooms, with every bedroom enjoying its own bathroom at the very high end.

“Occasionally, we see something referred to as a Jack ‘n’ Jill bathroom where one bathroom is en suite to two adjoining bedrooms with two doors – one giving access to each of the two adjoining bedrooms. This is quite acceptable, particularly on large family houses.

“I would not encourage anyone to ‘lose a bedroom’, which in most cases would reduce value, but occasionally a flat that hasn’t been modernised for many years may have three beds and only one bath, or is missing an en suite, in which case it might work to change to a two-bed, two-bath layout.”