Real Estate Firm Finds Broadband Essential for UK House Movers

Real estate company Strutt & Parker has published their latest Housing Futures (New Horizons) 2018 report, which in a very unsurprising development found that home broadband ISP connectivity is now seen as essential by 57% of house movers (up from 48% last year).

The report is based on a survey that was conducted at the end of 2017 with nearly 1,800 respondents. Apparently this reflected a combination of Strutt & Parker registered buyers, sellers, tenants and lettings applicants, as well as a balanced general UK population sample conducted by OnePoll.

Interestingly the survey finds that 57% of so-called Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) named retirement as a main reason to move home, but this was less of a priority than broadband connectivity that was mentioned by 61% of respondents. This is “higher than any other generation” in their survey and is said to “perhaps … reflect the experience of an age group that appreciates the positive impact of technology.”

Sadly the full report doesn’t dig any deeper into the question of digital connectivity, which is a shame since we would have liked to know how attitudes among movers to different types of connectivity and broadband speeds have changed over the years. We recall how the same survey in 2015 found that only 35.8% of respondents listed broadband as important or very important in their motivations for moving. Quite a change.