Despite a recent slip in buyer demand ahead of the usual annual spring bounce of activity, the UK housing market remains incredibly challenging for both buyers and sellers, with average house prices sitting at £260,230.
Constantly escalating house prices are the enemy of those hoping to get their first foot on the property ladder. But if money was not an option, what would the nation’s dream home look like, and what would it cost?
Regulated property buyers, GoodMove surveyed the nation to ask them what their dream home would look like from the outside. From brickwork to bedrooms, the top answers were then collated to reveal the UK’s dream home.
When asked what external features Brits’ dream home would have, the top 10 most desired are:
Back garden (72%)
Front garden (62%)
Large driveway (56%)
Large windows (51%)
Lots of plants outside (49%)
Nice brickwork (40%)
A pool (39%)
Solar panels (36%)
Water fountains (28%)
Brits named gardens as the most desired feature when it comes to a home, with 72% saying a back garden, and 62% claiming a front garden, was what they would want most. In a post-covid world, private outdoor space has become even more important for people, made clear by the fact this came so far ahead of more grand features on this list, such as a pool (39%) or nice cars parked outside (29%).
A detached property was the most desired property type (47%) followed by a bungalow (20%), and cottage (14%). Interestingly, a terraced property was the least desired to Brits, with only 4% claiming this would be their dream home.
Most Brits would want a large home, with three to five bedrooms (46%) – but not too large. Only 6% claimed they’d want a larger property with six bedrooms or more, making this the least desired property size, even over small properties with one to two bedrooms (13%).
Door colours help your property stand out from the competition and become more attractive to prospective buyers. Interestingly, our research found that white was the most desired door colour, followed by black (18%), blue (16%) and green (11%).
And when it comes to location, the countryside is where Brits would most want to call home (44%), followed by a quarter (25%) of beach-loving Brits who would love to live by the coast. The least-desired location to live in is the city – with only 9% saying they’d want to call this their home.
So, how much would this home cost?
The average price for a 4-bed, detached property in the UK is £431,7753 – but with the addition of a swimming pool, this could add millions to the homes’ asking price. In fact, the average cost of a home with a swimming pool in the UK is over £4.7 million – bringing the estimated average cost for this home to £1,854.5175!
Nima Ghasri, Director at GoodMove, says: “With the housing market so competitive and unattainable for many, many Brits have spent time visualising what their dream home would look like if money simply wasn’t an option. We wanted to see what the nation’s dream home would really look like, and it’s interesting to see that Brits take more pleasure in simple things such as a garden, rather than fancy cars, pools or a huge mansion to call home. Saying that, in today’s climate, we’d still expect this home to sit way above the national average!”