Kitchens and bathrooms are regarded as major selling points in the residential property market in the UK but new research suggests buyers are more interested in the lounge.
They survey has found that buyers spend more time looking at the lounge than any other room in a property and the next biggest draw is bedrooms.
In a three bedroom house, house hunters typically spend 1.5 times longer looking at the lounge than the kitchen and this room was just as important for those looking at one bedroom properties.
The research from House Simple also found that the next most attention worthy room is the bedroom, rather than the kitchen. Although not many one bedroom properties have a dedicated dining room, buyers still spend more time looking at their dining area than the bathroom.
Perhaps the biggest surprise from the study was that no matter the size of the home, the outside area in a property, whether that’s a front garden, back garden or patio, is a generally bigger deal breaker than the bathroom.
Across all homes, buyers spent the most time on average looking at furniture features such as L-shaped sofas, coffee tables and workspaces.
Overall the top five selling points in a three bedroom house were the living room, the kitchen, master bedroom, garden and then the bathroom while in a one bedroom flat it was the living room, bedroom, outside space, kitchen and dining area.
‘We advise prioritising low-cost tactics to showcase your home in the best possible light, whether that’s opting for neutral decor or simply removing clutter before a viewing,’ said Alex Gosling, House Simple chief executive officer.
‘This study shows that the living room is the best place to start. When selling your home online, we recommend making this room the focal point of your listing, with plenty of photographs that reflect a warm, homely feel,’ he explained.
‘We know that house hunters spend around 20 seconds looking at property listings with photographs. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s better than the two seconds they spend looking at ones without images,’ he pointed out.
‘Listings with professional photographs also sell 50% faster and 39% closer to the asking price than listings without them, so it’s worth the extra time and effort to get them right,’ he added.
