Esure
Written: Thursday, January 14, 2010TEENAGE GEAR
NEWS COPY
The average teenager's bedroom is crammed full of more than #5,000 worth of gadgets, games and clothes, a study found yesterday (Wed).
The staggering cost - mostly footed by mum and dad - consists of around #1,700 worth of electrical equipment and accessories.
It also includes around #1,100 of clothes, #250 worth of trainers and #300 worth of jewellery.
The figure of #5,257 per room means with around 3,796,600 teenagers living in the UK, they own #19,959,333,656.00 - or almost #20 BILLION worth of the latest gear.
The incredible stats emerged in a study of 3,000 parents by esure home insurance. The insurance giant asked parents to correctly value every item of their children's rooms.
Yesterday (Wed) Mike Pickard, Head of Risk and Underwriting at esure, said: ''Most teenagers want to keep up with their friends by having all of the latest must-have gadgets and designer gear.
''So it isn't surprising that their bedrooms are turning into Aladdin's caves with hefty price tags to boot. For many parents, their teenager's rooms can be 'no go' areas.
''But it's vital for them to take into account the value of contents in every room of the house to ensure they're not left under-insured.
''It's amazing how a son or daughter keeping up with the latest fads can considerably increase the value of a family's belongings.''
The study found the average teenager's wardrobe is worth a staggering #1,080.59 while they own approximately #241.94 worth of shoes and #303.01 of jewellery or accessories.
Parents have also invested in bedroom furniture to the tune of #969.03 - including bed, desk, chair, shelving units and TV units.
Most teenagers still have #776.80 of toys such as games, soft toys and sports equipment in their rooms, as well as CDs worth #248.28 and DVDs worth #248.53.
Electrical items also bump up the value of the bedroom considerably - with each room containing a television worth #149.99, a games console worth #199.99, and MP3 player worth about #175 and a #150 mobile phone.
Finally, teenagers who love books house approximately #218.66 worth in their bedrooms.
Each teenage bedroom contains an average of #700 worth of electrical items - but surprisingly only 31 per cent of parents have allowed their children to have a computer upstairs.
Four in 10 teenagers have a CD player in their bedroom and one in 10 own over 200 CDs.
DVD players are also becoming more and more popular, with more than half of kids having one in their bedroom and 18 per cent owning over 50 DVDs.
Fashion conscious teenagers also spend hundreds of pounds trying to keep up with their friends - one in ten youngsters own over 30 pairs of shoes, and one in 20 kids own over #1,000 worth of jewellery and accessories.
Two thirds of parents polled say their teenagers spends the majority of their time at home in their bedroom.
And when friends come round 74 per cent hot foot it upstairs to escape the prying eyes of mum and dad.
More than half of parents said their child's bedroom was worth far more than theirs and 34 per cent described it as most expensive room in the house.
