Over half of Brits have admitted to 'roomscrolling' - the act of browsing property listings just for fun, a new study has revealed. The survey, which polled 2,000 adults, found that 42% are daydreaming about homes they'll never live in, with a staggering 69% confessing they regularly peek at estate agent windows to check out the latest properties and their prices. A nosy 7% can't help but look every time they walk past an estate agent, while 31% love to send pictures of houses to friends and family via WhatsApp , texts, or emails, even though 56% know they can't afford to buy right now.
Graham Paterson, CEO of Jitty , the AI-driven property search engine behind the research, said: "People love looking at other people's properties and chatting about them with pals. We can walk past hundreds of homes each day but never know what they look like on the inside - which is why it's so interesting to have a peek online." Paterson pointed out: "It's not all about being nosey though, looking at other properties is a great source of inspiration and it's interesting to see what other people can do with a space similar to your own - and how much they are selling for.
" Interestingly, the poll also showed that 34% of those who indulge in 'roomscrolling' are lured by properties way out of their price range, whereas only 29% actually look at homes within their budget. Meanwhile, 27% are scoping out what kind of property they could snag in the future, and 24% can't resist comparing their own home to those nearby. A cheeky 28% admit, their top reason is just to have a nosy inside their neighbour's pad, while 12% are even check out how much their friends have splashed on their homes.
Some 15% just find peace in the simple act of browsing. What's more, a whopping 22% get a kick of motivation from perusing the housing market. Jo Hemmings, a Behavioural Psychologist, weighed in: "We have an innate desire to be curious, and from babies we are intrigued by, and learn from, our local surroundings.
" "It's interesting to see how many people like to have a look in estate agent's windows and compare what's on the market to their own home. This triggers our social bonding hormone, oxytocin - increasing our desire to learn about our neighbours' living spaces and style." "With so many searching for properties out of their price range there is a strong aspirational 'what if we could afford? ' aspect to their roomscrolling.
" "This gives us positive visualisation and a sense of escapism, as well as an inspirational motivation to see how they can improve their own homes to the latest standards by seeing prestigious or modern decor, style and design." "By roomscrolling, there doesn't seem to be a sense of 'house envy' or disappointment but more a form of stress relief from our everyday routines, a feeling of self-enhancement - just by imagining ourselves living in such homes - and the ease of which we can look at the curated perfection of online homes, influencing our own choices for our own homes.".
