"The confidence we’ve seen among those selling their properties has been entirely justified, with highly motivated buyers keen to move quickly and many people looking to achieve a more peaceful lifestyle."
Younger sellers fared better than their older counterparts, almost three quarters of sellers (74%) aged 16-24 years old sold over asking price, compared to just 22% of those aged 55 or over, a fact likely to be because properties lower down on the housing market are more in demand and competition is fiercer to secure them.
Speed is of the essence too with buyers very keen to move quickly: a quarter of sellers received an offer within just one week of putting their home on the market and 40% accepted an offer on their home within just two weeks.
Confidence among sellers is currently high with 87% stating they were either very or somewhat confident that they would sell their home for a price they wanted within a reasonable time frame when they put their home on the market.
Almost half (48%) of those selling their home in the past two years did so because they were looking for a more peaceful way of life, as homeowners have re-evaluated what they want from a property during lockdown. Purplebricks’ research, which looked at the motivations of UK adults who have sold their home in the last two years, also revealed that over a third sold their home in order to change their lifestyle and 37% saying they wanted a completely different type of home.
Perhaps in a bid to make their search for a more peaceful lifestyle a reality, almost one third (30%) moved to the countryside or seaside, although almost a quarter still wanted to move to suburbia (24%). Despite sellers' desire to change their lifestyles, however, most did not move far - 43% only moved 50 miles or less from their previous home, with only 1% opting to move 150 miles or more.
Over one third (35%) were searching for a home office, driven by the changes in working habits due to the pandemic.
Not only were over half of sellers (45%) looking for a bigger garden in their new home, but over a quarter (26%) were looking for an allotment or somewhere they could grow vegetables.
Detached homes were the most sought after property type, with almost a quarter (23%) of sellers choosing to move into detached houses, closely followed by semi detached (18%). Only 17% chose to move into a flat, with almost a quarter selling a flat in order to move.
Tom Greenacre, managing director of Purplebricks, commented: “The events of the past 18 months have made many of us consider a change of lifestyle. This is one of the factors that has contributed to the highly dynamic, fast-paced property market we have seen in recent months. Our research shows that the confidence we’ve seen among those selling their properties has been entirely justified, with highly motivated buyers keen to move quickly and many people looking to achieve a more peaceful lifestyle.”
