Some Brits Rather Live Next to Coastal Erosion Than Suffer Slow Broadband

A new Censuswide survey of 2,004 UK respondents, which was commissioned by Broadband Genie, has claimed that 7.09% of respondents would be willing to live in or around somewhere with “coastal erosion” if it was for their dream home, but only 5.34% were willing to live with “poor broadband“.

The survey, which was conducted between 20th to 22nd May 2024, found that 95% of respondents said they couldn’t live in an area with poor broadband (falling only slightly to 93% for poor mobile reception), even if it was otherwise their dream property.

Potential buyers said they would expect a discount of 18% if they discovered the broadband was unreliable, which equates to knocking more than £67,000 off the average UK house price (Right Move puts the average UK house price at £375,131). But in reality, you’re unlikely to ever get such a discount, particularly during a period where the market has returned to some stability (i.e. the seller will just wait for another buyer) and there are often other connectivity solutions that can be tried.

The research broadly investigated which unpopular ‘blights’ Brits were most willing to compromise on when choosing somewhere to live.

Which, if any, of the following would you live in or around if it was your dream property or the only property you could afford?

➤ 3.1% said they would live near a rubbish tip or waste disposal centre, the lowest of the different blights

➤ 5.34% said they would live with poor broadband

➤ 4.9% said they would live near a power station

➤ 7.09% said they would live next to somewhere with coastal erosion

➤ 14.9% said they would live next to a wind turbine

➤ 72% of people living in Cardiff said they would be willing to live next to at least one of the undesirable features, the highest of any city in the UK.

However, this is a very simplistic way of looking at such things, which doesn’t tell us the whole story about any other differences that may exist between the areas. For example, there could be significant differences in terms of council tax bands, school catchments, quality or size of housing, availability of gas, crime rates etc.

Ultimately, the decision about how much you pay and what house you pick will always come down to a matter of personal choice / budget, which is of course different for everybody and thus very hard to quantify. But clearly most people do seek good quality broadband and mobile services.