A new research study has suggested that the internet is encouraging us to satisfy our inner property snoops, with more and more of us admitting to looking up our neighbour’s homes online.
The study claims that 63 per cent of us admit to regularly looking up properties that we have no intention of buying, all thanks to the ever-increasing popularity of online property portals.
Of course, the internet is also incredibly useful if you are hoping to move house, both for finding your next property and for researching sold house prices in order to market your own property competitively.
Whether you want to sell your house fast, or you just want to have a virtual snoop around your neighbour’s property, online property portals have completely changed the way we navigate the property market.
According to the research, 38 per cent of British people have checked the price of someone else’s house online in the last year. 52 per cent of those property snoopers admitted to looking up the price of a neighbour’s property, 38 per cent looked at a family member’s property, 31 per cent wanted to see a close friend’s home, and 21 per cent admitted to checking out a colleagues property.
When it comes to justifying their nosey neighbour activity, around 60 per cent of people questioned said they were looking at other properties in order to keep up to date with local property price trends. The remaining 40 per cent said they were researching an area they might move to at some point in the future, or simply daydreaming about dream properties and looking for home interiors inspiration.
Whether you are a serious house-hunter, or simply an observer, online property portals have given us unprecedented access to each other’s homes. Interior photographs, floorplans, asking prices and even historical ‘sold price’ data are now readily available for anyone who chooses to go looking.