Oliver Knight

Dinner table conversations these days prove that you don’t have to be an estate agent or work in the property industry to have a view on the UK housing market. Just a look at the headlines and stories on housing which appear in the media every week is further proof of the country’s interest in all things bricks and mortar. But in the media it’s more likely to be agents or industry specialists giving their view, rather than homeowners or renters in specific parts of the country. Yet the sentiment of homeowners and renters plays an important role when it comes to the housing market - not least in determining decisions about whether to buy or sell a home, whether to upsize, downsize or just move to a different area.

Location, location, location is the estate agent’s mantra when asked to define what makes a property hot - or not. But these days where your house sits on the digital highway can also prove crucial to luring prospective buyers. It’s no secret that the rollout of super-fast broadband and mobile connectivity in the UK has been beset by delays – the goalposts set by successive governments have been moved several times over the years, due to various (buffering?) issues. But does being able to binge at will on the HD version of the latest TV series, or having the ability to do your entire grocery shop on a 300Mbps connection, really influence people’s decisions when buying a house?