Strutt & Parker’s latest Housing Futures survey, with over 2,600 respondents from across the UK, gives an interesting insight into the housing desires of the British population.

The research takes a look at the differing responses received from men and women to see how much they varied and if any trends emerged.

When asked to rate their motivations for moving home, the top five choices were the same for both sexes – lifestyle, privacy, broadband connections and proximity to shops: 

However, when you look beyond these top five options, men and women’s priorities seem to shift. For men, some of the next most important motivations were retirement and looking for a smaller home. In contrast, women were more concerned about better schools, mobile phone coverage, and living near family and friends.

Jake Civardi, Partner in Winchester, said: “Our analysis shows again this year that men and women have many similarities yet also differences regarding their wants and needs for a future home. Men tend to seek solutions for work flexibility – garden offices and work spaces whilst women are looking for career changes, schools and expanding households. Men are also more interested in views over water, whether that be rivers, lakes or sea. The sexes are aligned when it comes to village lifestyle being number one, the imperative for connectivity through broadband and mobile coverage and the need for a well-insulated and energy efficient home.”

A number of other differences were observed:

* Men seem to prefer rural locations to the city. London does not feature in the top 5 regions for men, whereas it was the third most popular location for women in terms of places they’d like to move to. Only 6% of men wanted to live in London in the future.

* Villages were the highest desired area for both women and men.

* When looking at housing types, women preferred character properties such as Georgian/Edwardian/Victorian and art deco homes to men. On the other hand, men preferred bungalows and new properties to women.

* When it came to outside space, more men were keen to have farmland attached to their property then women, whilst all waterside options were very popular with male respondents. In contrast, women stated that they preferred patios and small private gardens.

* Women named a swimming pool as their number one garden item (17%) whereas men named a walled garden as their number one dream house feature for outside the home (16%).

* When analysing dream home items, the clear winner for men was a home cinema/screening room, just like in last year’s survey, with 14% of male respondents saying they coveted one.  For women, window seats were much more highly sought after (16%). 

* Interestingly, the AGA oven has dropped off the top spot for women’s top home accessory. For 2016, a statement kitchen island was the most highly sought-after kitchen item for both men (21%) and women (24%)

* Men and women were in harmony when it came to the most coveted bathroom item – with a luxury rain shower coming in top position for both sexes.

* When looking at preferred interior design styles, women opted for ‘Modern Minimalism’ styling, whereas men voiced a preference for ‘Traditional British’ interior design.

* Broadband connectivity (70% and 69% respectively) and mobile phone connectivity (47% and 44%)  were both highly desired by both women and men however men also showed an interest in working from home, rating work/study space and garden offices higher than women.

To download the full report, ‘Housing Futures: The Village Revival’, visit: www.struttandparker.com/housingfutures