A new survey has found that on average it takes just 38 minutes to make a decision to buy a home. This means that the average UK homebuyer spends more time buying the weekly groceries than making one of the biggest and most expensive decisions of their lives.
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 property insight, from online estate agent
eMoov, 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.
According to the survey, those spending £500,000+ on a property did manage to take two minutes longer on average before deciding to buy. Most potential buyers will know within the first sixty seconds whether or not it is the one for them.
House buying habits
The majority of buyers tend to return for a second viewing just to validate their thinking, says Russell Quirk, eMoov’s Founder and CEO: “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, people already know if a property will suit them before stepping through the front door. If it ticks all the boxes prior to a viewing, then all that is left is when you walk through the door, your heart screams ‘this is it!’
