This means that the average home buyer in the UK now spends less time than it takes to play one half of a football match, before making one of the biggest and most expensive decisions of their lives.
With the vast amount of property and local information now available online, house hunters no longer need to spend hours viewing properties and interrogating estate agents before deciding on which property is right for them. Property values, property purchase history, recently sold properties, photos, floor plans, Google street view, school catchment area, transport links, employment opportunities, crime rate, tax band and so much more is available at the click of a mouse.
Nearly two thirds of people view a property on two occasions before making an offer to buy with 10% doing so after just one viewing and only 29% returning to a property more than twice.
The research reveals women take slightly less time (38 minutes) than men (39 minutes) when viewing a property before deciding to put in an offer. However men were more likely to make a snap decision with 11% of them choosing to put in an offer after just one viewing, compared to 9% for women.
The survey found that those spending £500,000+ on a property did manage to take two minutes longer on average before deciding to buy, probably sensible given the amount of money involved. However it realistically doesn’t matter if you are spending £100,000 or over £500,000, the property price tag is relative to your situation and the research shows that there is only a matter of minutes between making a decision across each price bracket.
Property expert Russell Quirk, Founder and CEO of eMoov.co.uk commented:
“The fact of the matter is people don’t need to spend as much time on the viewing process as they once did. The reason for this is simple, now when a potential buyer views a house, they are viewing the house and the house only.
"With the internet providing a wealth of information, they already know if a property will suit them from a practical point of view before stepping through the front door. If a property has ticked all the boxes prior to a viewing, then all that is left is whether you walk through the door and your heart screams ‘this is it!’
"Most potential buyers will know within the first sixty seconds whether or not it is the one for them and the majority of buyers tend to return for a second viewing just to validate their thinking.”
