UK house prices: These are the compromises homebuyers aren’t prepared to make when buying a home
When finding the perfect home a multitude of factors come into play: price, location, transport links and schools are often top of the list.
Nobody usually wants to scale back their expectations, but new research shows that home-buyers are much more willing to be flexible about location than the number of bedrooms and local crime levels.
The research for Which? Mortgage Advisers asked 2,000 people who had purchased a home in the last five years if they had made any compromises on the property they bought, and what had been sacrificed.
The survey showed nine in 10 home-buyers were not willing to budget on crime, while 86 per cent wouldn’t give up their dream number of bedrooms. The same proportion of people were unwilling to back down on the house’s proximity to schools.
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Surprisingly, three in 10 said they would back down on the condition of the home, while 23 per cent would waiver on location.
And 24 per cent were also willing to sacrifice a garden or outdoor space for something in their budget.
Which? said the research demonstrated how “competition in the property market remains tough and aspirations high”.
Executive adviser David Blake said: “Buyers often start property searches by imagining their dream home, but our research shows that some form of compromise is almost inevitable”.