OVER half of Brits are fantasizing over dream homes despite not being in the market to move according to a new study by mortgage experts.
One in four people were found to be actively house hunting while the rest are day dreaming over homes that surpassed their budget.
The new research also revealed that people were doing this for many reasons, but one of the more popular reasons was in case of winning the lottery they would have an idea of what to splash out on.
The top reasons for this were found to be ‘pure fascination of the local property market’ 42%, ‘to see what I could buy if I win the lottery/come into a large sum of money’ 33% and ‘escapism’ 26%.
The report was led by Bankrate UK a mortgage comparison and mediation service who have now developed a tool to allow people to find the most expensive properties.
The Priciest Property Portal, gives users instant access to some of the most expensive homes currently on sale within the UK, along with information on the cost of the deposit needed to buy and monthly repayments.
The tool highlights the 12 most expensive properties currently on the market in each country and region in the UK, currently a £54.5m 12-bedroom townhouse in the Mayfair area of London is the most expensive house listed.
Outside of London, it’s a £30m mansion in Godalming, South East, that leads the way in terms of priciest properties, closely followed by the South West, thanks to a 12-bedroom property with an £18.5m price tag.
Visitors to the Priciest Property Portal page can also find information on luxury properties and islands around the world, for bonus fantasy content.
Other findings from the research included that 35% of those living in Greater London , 30% the West Midlands and 28% of the East of England are currently the most keen move.
Those looking online are said to typically check six times per month, for one hour and 9 minutes each time; equating to almost seven hours of property searching per month.
Nisha Vaidya, Mortgage Expert at Bankrate UK, commented on the research and the launch of the Priciest Property Portal: “We’re clearly a nation of dreamers.
“We may not all be able to afford multi-million-pound homes, but that doesn’t stop us having a look to see how the other half live; and hoping that, one day, we can own our own plush pad.
“Realistically, most people don’t need a luxury 12-bedroom townhouse, but it’s natural to dream of something more extravagant and have goals and ambitions of not just a comfortable life, but a flashy one.
“And who knows, a windfall could be right around the corner to help you land that home you’ve longed for!
“In the meantime, we’ve launched the Priciest Property Portal to help satisfy that curiosity of what the best homes in the UK have to offer and add fuel to people’s fantasies of a lifestyle they may be striving for.”
