The internet has added another dimension to modern house-hunting…

New research by Halifax Estate Agency has revealed that significantly more people are likely to begin their search online the next time they look for a new home.

The research shows that 10% of home-owners began their search for their current property on the internet. With homeowners moving on average every 7 years, this figure is set to triple as one third (29%) of respondents said they will begin by looking on the internet when they next move.  

Almost half (43%) of respondents aged between 18 and 24 years old had visited property websites as their first port of call for their present home. This is in stark contrast to respondents aged over 65, of whom only 1% had started their property search on the internet. The growing confidence of over 65s using the web is also apparent with 8% intending to begin the search for their next home online, eight times more than used it for their last move.       

A quarter of Londoners (23%) favoured the convenience of searching online as their first option for their current property. This figure nearly doubles (44%) for Londoners intending to look for their next home on the web.

Estate Agency offices and services remain popular as nearly two in five respondents (38%) started their search and found their current property through this method. Of future house hunters, 34% stated they will also use them as the starting point for their new search.

Revolutionizing the process

Conversely, less people plan to identify properties by driving or walking around prospective areas. Two in five people (20%) started their search for their last property this way with 30% stating this was how they found their current home. Yet, only 8% intend to begin their next search with a jaunt around their ideal area.

Colin Kemp, managing director for Halifax Estate Agents, comments,

"Finding a new property on the internet has certainly increased in popularity with the ease of searching from your own home and the ability to search thousands of properties at a click of a button revolutionizing the process.

"Halifaxhomefinder.co.uk offers customers the convenience of searching for a property around the clock and this internet service is also readily available in all our branches for customers to use, complementing more traditional search methods."

Research Q & A

Question: Thinking of the last home you bought, when you started to look for a new property, where did you begin the search?

Question: If you were starting to look for a new property to buy, where would you begin your search?

Question: Percentage of each age group who would begin their property search online

On behalf of Halifax Estate Agents GFK NOP interviewed a representative sample of 962 adults aged 18+ between 2^nd and 4^th March 2007.

Source: Halifax Estate Agents