What’s on your checklist for your dream home?
It’s only natural for that to change over time. While we may have wanted a slide from the bathroom to the kitchen when we were kids, now we’re adults we’d like a reading nook (…and the slide, still).
Living through lockdown may have changed our priorities again, as we’ve been forced to stay indoors in homes that might not be fit for purpose.
Plenty of space and a garden feels more important when you can’t go anywhere else, after all.
A study of 2,000 adults confirms this, with more than a quarter saying that their vision of the perfect house has changed since lockdown measures were introduced.
As you might expect, a garden is now top of the priority list, with the majority saying they’d like more outdoor space and a place to grow plants, fruit, and vegetables (those supermarket stock shortages really make you wish you had your own veg supply).
More people now want to live in the countryside rather than the city, while demand for home offices has increased, too.
What Brits now want in their dream home:
- A garden, or a bigger garden
- A spare bedroom
- An en-suite
- More natural light
- A bigger kitchen for baking/cooking
- A garage to store things like bicycles
- A home within walking distance to local food shops
- A patio/decking for BBQs
- A downstairs toilet for washing hands more often
- A state-of-the-art kitchen
- A place in the countryside or further from the city
- A space for a home office
- More kitchen cupboard space for stocking up food
- A bigger living space for indoor activities
- More separate rooms, such as a separate dining room and living room
- A summer house
- A bigger fridge/fridge space
- A home closer to a park or green space
- A dishwasher
- A garden space for an allotment
- A space for home workouts or gym equipment
- A balcony
- Better Wi-Fi
- Window seat
- Outdoor hot tub
- Outdoor swimming pool
- Rooftop terrace
- A home cinema space
- A space for a bigger TV
- A house on a quiet street for children to play in safely
- A home mini bar with beer taps or drinks fridge
- A place with kinder neighbours
- A built-in wine cooler/drinks fridge
- Multiple spaces for more than one home office
- A playroom for children
- Bigger postbox/letter box for parcels
- A home where you can chat to neighbours from two metres away
Alex Beavis, head of mortgages for Skipton Building Society, which carried out the study, said: ‘With the nation having spent so much time indoors lately people have had the opportunity and time to decide whether their home is really giving them everything they want and need – as well as highlighting features that are missing from their current home.
‘Usually when people look to move it’s because of space. They either want more of it, less of it, or they want their own space after a relationship breakdown or flying the nest.
‘The lockdown has really given us all time to hone in on exactly what we want from our living arrangements and what our top priorities are if we were to move.’
A third of those surveyed want to move somewhere with a bigger kitchen, so they can perfect their baking in the case of another lockdown.
And three in 10 would be looking for a garage to store bicycles or other exercise equipment.
Alex adds: ‘Living in the countryside would naturally limit your contact with other people more than being in a city centre.
‘Who knows what habits and living observations we’ve picked up during lockdown that might stay with us long after social distancing measures are relaxed.
‘But what will be interesting is watching if this filters right through the housing market – we could start seeing new build properties with bigger gardens or home office areas designed in direct response to many of us getting used to working from and spending more time at home.’
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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/26/lockdown-has-changed-what-brits-want-dream-home-12905290/
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