Midlands house hunters compare energy costs

Canny Midlands buyers compare energy costs when house hunting but Londoners apparently don’t care about house running costs. Or so you might think looking at some recent survey results.

Around 57 per cent of East Midlands buyers rate ongoing costs, such as energy bills, as ‘very important’ when they are choosing a new home compared with 51 per cent of buyers across the nation as a whole. In fact, Midlanders are more likely than those anywhere else in the country to consider the running costs of a new home when they are house-hunting.

By contrast, buyers in London are the least concerned about the running costs of their new purchase with just 36 per cent rating these as ‘very important’.

These are among the interim results from our ongoing survey into the views of house-buyers. We are continuing to offer prizes of up to £1,000 to anyone doing the online questionnaire here (www.tiny.cc/larkfleet-survey). It takes less than ten minutes to complete.

Mike Holland of OlsenMetrix Marketing, which is managing the study on behalf of Larkfleet Homes, said:

“Energy costs for running a home in the East Midlands are pretty much the same as in other parts of the country but house prices are lower. The bills associated with running a house are a larger proportion of total expenditure and therefore get more attention.

“House buyers in London are far more concerned with the initial purchase price of their new home than they are with the running costs. The results do not mean that Londoners are indifferent to energy bills but these perhaps pale into insignificance when compared with mortgage repayments associated with London house prices.”

The full results of the survey are expected to be published in September when more data has been obtained.

Larkfleet Homes CEO Karl Hick said: “We remain very keen to hear from anyone currently searching for a new house or who has purchased a new house in the past twelve months.

“Whether your search and purchase involved a brand-new home or an established property, and whether you looked at a Larkfleet home or not, your views will help to shape the way we meet the needs of home buyers in the future.”