Scotland starts the year as most searched for new home location
New data from whathouse.com, the UK’s leading new home audience platform, can reveal that January was the busiest month on record for new home-hunter activity in Scotland, as first-time buyers, forever-home-hunters and 50+ prospective buyers start 2022 with a strong desire to improve lifestyle, increase available space and lower energy consumption and running costs.
Key points from the analysis:
- whathouse.com analysis of buyer searches in January 2022 reveals Scotland started the year as Britain’s fastest climbing new home search location, jumping by 42% across all property types and tenures.
- Searches surged six-fold in the retirement category as 50+ home-hunters actioned pent up plans to change lifestyle or move to be nearer children or grandchildren.
- Across Scotland first-time buyer search for Help to Buy properties doubled in the first month of 2022.
Daniel Hill, Managing Director, whathouse.com, comments:
“2021 was an incomparable year for Scottish house-builders in every sense, with the impact of COVID-19, shortage of materials and labour and unprecedented demand for new homes from buyers. It is usual for new home-hunter activity to ramp up across Scotland in the first month of the year as people turn their attention to actioning plans.
“The start of 2022 has, however, been exceptional. We’ve recorded record breaking levels of new homebuyer interest across all regions of Scotland signalling that a new group of prospective buyers are considering a move to a new-build property.
“This group is primarily made up of first-time buyers interested in taking advantage of the Help to Buy scheme, and 50+ buyers considering a move to a new retirement property.
“This group may have held back during the uncertainty of the pandemic but are now resolved to consider a move to a new-build property, rather than second-hand, to improve lifestyle, increase available space and lower energy consumption and running costs.
“The six-fold surge in retirement searches from 50+ home-hunters leaves us in no doubt that retirees across Scotland are now ready to action pent up plans – contemplated during the coronavirus pandemic – to change lifestyle or move to be nearer children or grandchildren.”
Kindly shared by WhatHouse?
Main photo courtesy of Pixabay
