"A great garden will always hold strong appeal but it’s the summer months when you are really able to showcase this feature, allowing you to attract more buyer interest and even a higher price for your home"
- Ruth Beeton - Home Sale Pack
Up-front information platform, Home Sale Pack, reveals that almost 40% of homebuyers admit to being more likely to front up more cash for a home with great outdoor space when buying during the summer than if they were buying in the winter.
Home Sale Pack has surveyed 1,521 UK homebuyers to have purchased in the last year to understand how much appeal great outdoor space has to homebuyers, and whether it has a bigger influence on their buying decisions when searching for a property during summer compared to searching during winter.
The survey reveals that 90% of homebuyers consider gardens and outdoor space to be an important feature of a property when house hunting.
But it seems the appeal of a garden, and the influence it has over the homebuying decision is heavily influenced by the changing of the seasons.
68% of buyers admit that great outdoor space holds more appeal when house hunting during summer compared to winter.
64% also say they’re more likely to actually book a viewing of a home with great outdoor space during summer, and 61% of buyers are more likely to submit a summer offer for a home with a desirable garden.
Most striking of all, 39% say they’re actually more likely to offer a higher price for such a property during the summer months.
When asked what the most important elements and features of great outdoor space are it’s clear that buyers value the simple things that a great garden can offer.
A well-kept lawn ranked top, followed by trees and flower beds, whilst a garden house or office also held strong appeal.
Conversely, it seems that some of the more luxurious garden features don’t hold much sway with homebuyers.
For example, jacuzzis, treehouses, outdoor bars, BBQ pit/pizza ovens, and swimming pools don’t impress as much as you might think, ranking far lower when it comes to buyer appeal.
Ruth Beeton, Co-Founder of Home Sale Pack, says: “The biggest lesson we can learn from this survey is that sellers are wise to consider the strengths of their property and match them to the time of the year in which they put the property on the market.
"A great garden will always hold strong appeal but it’s the summer months when you are really able to showcase this feature, allowing you to attract more buyer interest and even a higher price for your home.
"And if your property boasts generous open fires and snug, cosy living spaces, it’s going to hold more sway if you sell during the winter.
"But selling a home can take an awfully long time, which means there’s always a risk that you’ll list it at the right time but not actually find a buyer to complete the deal until it's too late to reap the benefits. It’s just one reason why doing everything you can to make the selling process as fast and efficient as possible is such a valuable thing for all sellers to do.”
