People searching for homes are doing so more and more from the comfort of their own computer screen. Halifax Estate Agents have carried out research which shows that 29% of house hunters begin their search for property on the internet.
The study also says that people moving home are three times as likely to start searching for property online than they were when they last moved.
Figures differ for different ages groups, with 42% of the 18-44 age group likely to use the internet to look for their next home, and 20% of those aged 45 and over. This suggests the upward trend will continue and searching online will become more popular as time goes by.
It is the ease of searching for property online that is revolutionising the way people initiate their moving process. Just by accessing the internet and clicking a few buttons, people can search thousands of properties in their own time and comfort.
Nevertheless the internet has not yet overtaken estate agents’ windows, which remain the most popular method of beginning a property hunt, with 34% of buyers looking for property by window browsing. But while the internet figure has been rising, the estate agent window figure has been on the way down, as, at the time of buying their last property, 38% of house hunters said that they had started their search at the window of an estate agent.
An interesting change in the way people hunt for property is hat they are not as keen as they used to be in actually visiting the propsective locations to have a drive or walk around when they start their search. This method of beginning a search had fallen by a half. When looking for their last home the number who employed the method of visiting the area was at 33%. It looks as though virtual searching is taking over.
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