This is despite 47% of homebuyers saying that their buying and moving experience was just as they had expected
According to a new research from property platform, WiggyWam, 45% of UK homebuyers are so frustrated by the home buying process that they say they’ll never go through it again.
The findings reveal that 24% of those homebuyers say that, while the experience has put them off the idea of moving again, they may do so in the future depending on personal and lifestyle circumstances. However, 21% say they will never move again.
With an average of 1 million property transactions a year, 45% accounts for 450,000 potential homebuyers who have been put off re-entering the market again, while 210,000 refuse outright to engage any further with the open market.
This is despite 47% of homebuyers saying that their buying and moving experience was just as they had expected it to be, suggesting that the housing market probably does not has a great reputation among the public.
While 20% of UK homebuyers termed their experience of buying and moving better-than-expected, 33% termed it explicitly worse.
33% cited the time it took to complete the move, while 22% blamed dealing with conveyancers and solicitors, and 10% say being unable to find the right home when asked about the most frustrating parts of the experience which are most likely to put them off moving again.
Only 8% cite ‘additional costs’ as the most off-putting aspect, which includes the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). Meanwhile, for 7%, their estate agent was the most frustrating part of the process.
Silas J. Lees MRICS, WiggyWam CEO, says: Anyone involved in the house-moving process knows it’s a highly stressful event in a person’s life. I think the industry can grow immune to the real-life impact this has. When the entire process is drawn out, convoluted and rife with delay, as so much of it historically is, people’s lives are negatively affected.
We should no longer accept a sales process that is akin to putting clients through a mangle and then charging them for the privilege. This is why we lose 1-in-5 potential buyers every year, he said.
And this goes hand-in-glove with the clear fact that movers care little for the taxes, duties, and fees attached to the moving process; something which we in the industry spend so much time fretting over. Buyers and sellers are willing to pay for premium service, to remove stress and tribulation, Lees said.
He said that another very real cost of elongated timelines that we’re seeing in this period of extraordinary demand is the negative impact delays have on estate agents and their reputation. They do everything they can to keep a deal together, only for things outside of their control to cause unnecessary delays! Frankly, this isn’t fair. Agents deserve more.
