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Buy To Let

Majority of buyers don’t find their home online

adamlewis
Written By:
adamlewis
Posted:
Updated:
01/09/2016

Despite the rise of online property portals, most of us find our home the old fashioned way.

Half of us still find property the traditional way, according to new research from Which? Mortgage Advisers, despite the emergence of hundreds of apps and websites for finding properties.

Over half (55%) of homebuyers said they found their home through an ‘old-fashioned’ method, like an estate agent, their local paper or an auction.

Traditional route

One in five (22%) first-time buyers found their property through an estate agent, (10%) after seeing a for sale sign outside, and (9%) found their property through word of mouth.

A small but significant 6% found their property in their local paper, 3% found their property by approaching the owner directly, or by leafleting the area, and just 1% bought their property at a property auction.

Modern means

Nearly half (45%) found their property online – somewhere like Rightmove – or through an electronic alert, such as a notification from an app.

David Blake, of Which? Mortgage Advisers said: “Despite the rise in online property portals, it seems many of us are still traditionalists when it comes to finding a property.”

“While apps and websites are a good place to start your property search, we found the most successful searches also include speaking to a local expert to get a real feel for the house and the area.”