Right up my street: one in three house hunters already know just where they want to live

Almost a third of buyers know the exact street where they want to move, according to Zoopla research, with those in London, the north and the midlands most likely to target their property searches.

Meanwhile, residents are increasingly using portals to check out the value of their own home.

Rather than having a price, postcode or general area in mind, a poll of 6,000 people commissioned by Zoopla found that 31% of the British public claim to know the street or even the specific house they want to move to.

Londoners have the clearest picture in their heads with 48% having exact requirements, followed by 35% in the north-west and 32% in the north-east.

Question I know the specific house OR street I want to live in I know the neighbourhood(s) I want to live in I know which town(s) I want to live in I know the region of the UK, but no more than that I have absolutely no idea
Great Britain 31% 21% 21% 14% 6%
Scotland 19% 24% 40% 8% 9%
West Midlands 33% 21% 27% 12% 7%
Wales 16% 21% 36% 19% 9%
East Midlands 30% 21% 33% 11% 5%
East of England 20% 17% 36% 18% 8%
South West 19% 22% 29% 27% 4%
South East 24% 17% 33% 18% 7%
London 48% 19% 18% 9% 6%
North West 35% 23% 28% 10% 3%
North East 32% 24% 28% 9% 6%

Another fifth of the overall respondents said they knew the neighbourhood or town they wanted to live in, while 14% had an idea of the region and just 6% had no idea.

The portal has also analysed the most common parts of the country where users are assessing their home’s value by examining how many times its instant valuation tool was used during 2018, with residents in Milton Keynes found to be checking most frequently at 42% more than the UK average.

Charlie Bryant, managing director of Zoopla, said: “Our survey highlights to agents that their clients are researching their next property move more than ever before.”

Rank   Post town Valuations run (as % above British average) Average property price January 2019 (£) Increase/decrease in avg. property value in last 12 months (%)
1 Milton Keynes 42% £306,453 -1.4%
2 Bedford 38% £328,873 -1.0%
3 Colchester 32% £323,626 0.7%
4 Swindon 31% £260,003 0.2%
5 Reading 30% £422,153 -1.8%
6 Northampton 30% £262,394 2.4%
7 Bristol 23% £332,135 -0.4%
8 Southampton 17% £293,424 1.5%
9 Bournemouth 16% £306,289 3.0%
10 Cambridge 16% £458,482 -1.0%

 

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2 Comments

  1. El Burro

    Assuming of course that there happens to be a property in that street when they want to move and as it’s likely to be a very desirable location (which they almost certainly won’t be able to afford and if they could they’ll be fighting with others over the same piece of meat), reality will kick in they’ll have to compromise.

    Summary: useless statistics.

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  2. Woodentop

    Hello Z this isn’t news.

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