The UK is to spend millions of pounds extending the country’s fast fibre optic broadband network which could be a boost to people trying to sell their home.
Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the new £1 bilionfunding in his autumn statement and said that it will be rolled out to at least two million homes and businesses a part of a plan to boost the country’s digital infrastructure.
His announcement comes as new research show that having a superfast broadband connection or good mobile coverage is equal to a good view when it comes to what buyers look for in a property.
The latest buyer survey of the prime property market from real estate firm Knight Frank shows that 61.4% of respondents said good internet connectivity and phone signal was either very or fairly important to them when moving house. This compares to 60.8% who said the same about a good view.
Some 47% said they would be more likely to buy a house in an area with good internet connectivity or superfast broadband and 32% of respondents said they would research an area’s internet connectivity, or ask an estate agent about broadband speeds, before buying a house.
The research also found that 41% of buyers have reduced their budget as a result of changes to stamp duty and a further 14% plan to stay in their next property longer as a result of the changes.
Quality of life was the primary motivating factor for moving, followed by upsizing or downsizing and privacy and security and having a garden or access to land were considered the most important attributes of a new home among respondents.
Meanwhile, price growth in the prime country house market currently stands at 0.5% over the year to September 2016, down from a peak of 5.2% in the middle of 2014.
Knight Franks says that while this headline figure suggests that the market has been relatively subdued, the slowdown in price growth is just a reflection of a market adjusting to a series of tax changes and, to a lesser extent, economic uncertainty resulting from the recent vote to leave the European Union.
The firm added that the wholesale reforms to stamp duty announced in December 2014, and subsequent introduction of a 3% surcharge for individuals purchasing additional properties, have succeeded in making buyers more price sensitive, and this has been factored in to asking prices and offers, something which is confirmed by the results of the survey.
