Poll finds location of a property is still important but being near a top school is not

Location is still important for home buyers in Scotland with a new poll showing that the right location is the top priority.

The survey suggests that people’s sense of community appears to have shifted and while most owners think the location of their home is important they also believe its resale value is too.

Considerations like having friendly neighbours or good local amenities are no longer a priority and even the quality of local schools is no longer rated as highly, according to the poll conducted by Scottish based estate agency Walker Wylie.

Indeed, the majority said they would rather have a decent restaurant on their doorstep than a high performing school with living in a safe and respectable area rating highly.

Only one in five potential buyers said they regarded integrating into the local community as very important while just one in four said the same about the importance of getting on with their new neighbours.

Most potential home buyers said they knew most of their neighbours and that they spoke with them at least once a week. Around 65% said they always spoke with their neighbours face to face while one in 10 said they also communicated with them by social media.

And despite the expansion of out of town shopping centres, local shops appear to remain a staple of community life with 83% of people reporting that they shop locally once a week or more.

However other local amenities are used more sparingly and, in some cases hardly at all. More than two thirds of people said they used their local post office no more than once a month, while 42% admitted never using their local library and a further 16% said they hadn’t used it in the past five years.

Only one in four people said they used their local leisure centre any more than once a month while 37% said they never used it and 8% said they didn’t have one.

Barry Walker, co-director of Walker Wylie, said:

‘The survey reflects quite accurately what people tell us they’re looking for in a property and it appears to confirm what we see anecdotally, that buyers don’t regard community as importantly as they perhaps did in the past.

‘Because people are more mobile, few consider their next purchase will be a home for life and they don’t see themselves as being from a particular neighbourhood the way previous generations did.

‘Peoples’ lives are more private and centred around their work and families and they regard their homes as an investment which they will sell before moving into another neighbourhood. If they don’t have a leisure centre or a post office or a particular shop locally, they will drive to one and so proximity to good amenities is by no means a deal breaker when they’re looking for a property.

‘The one area that was perhaps surprising was that people still engage with their neighbours face to face rather than by social media. While a lot has changed, people still like to stop and pass the time of day in the street with someone they know.’

Kindly shared by Property Wire