UK House Buyers Would Reject Homes With Poor Broadband Speed

The purchase of a new home is the biggest investment that most people will ever make and getting a good broadband speed forms part of that decision making process. The latest ISPreview.co.uk poll of 2,046 readers has found that 54.7% would reject an ideal house if it couldn’t deliver their desired speed and a third seek 100Mbps+.

The survey highlights that as the quality of national broadband ISP networks has improved, so too have our expectations for the desired internet performance of a new property.

Back in 2015 a similar survey conducted by ISPr found that 50Mbps+ was the “minimum” broadband speed that a new home buyer could tolerate (67% of respondents), while today 34.2% desire 100Mbps+ and many would be willing to pay extra for a house in order to get it.

When buying a new house, what is the minimum broadband speed you could tolerate (pick closest)?
50Mbps – 39.5%
100Mbps+ – 34.2%
25Mbps – 18.1%
10Mbps – 7%
Not sure – 0.9%

What would you do if the house, which might otherwise be perfect, offered lower speeds than your minimum?
Reject it – 54.7%
Negotiate lower price – 33.8%
I’m not fussed – 11.3%

How much more would you pay for an ideal house with 100Mbps+ broadband (pick closest)?
I wouldn’t pay extra – 48.6%
I’m not sure – 14%
1% More – 10.9%
0.5% More – 9.1%
2-3% More – 9%
More than 3% – 8%

NOTE: Haliax’s May 2018 House Price Index stated that the average UK house price is now a little over £224K (i.e. 0.5% of £224K = £1,120 and 1% = £2,240 and 3% = £6,720).

Lately the government has made a lot of noise about how their intervention has helped to extend the reach of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) from 76% to 95% of UK premises, which will rise to cover 98% by c.2020. But our survey suggests that expectations for house buyers could rise faster than the government’s ambition, although 100Mbps+ connections are already available to roughly half of premises (mostly via Virgin Media).

On the other hand the government and Ofcom have just set out a major new strategy for bringing 1000Mbps capable “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband networks to every premises in the UK (here and here), although it will take until 2033 to fully deliver on this.

Nevertheless most of the currently available evidence for the impact of broadband speed on house prices remains fairly anecdotal, although a 2014 study conducted by the London School of Economics (LSE) did claim that property prices increased by an average of around 3% when the available broadband speeds doubled (here).

Ultimately the decision about how much you pay for a house will always come down to a matter of personal choice, which is of course different for everybody. Sadly broadband is one area that Phil and Kirstie have yet to focus on in their popular Channel 4 TV show, ‘Location, Location, Location‘.

Meanwhile this month’s new survey asks where you got your home broadband ISP router from and how you rate its quality? Vote Here.