There’s another outcome of the cost of living crunch taking place – our love affair with older period homes might be over.

It appears that British home buyers no longer aspire to live in a period property, and would prefer a new build home post-pandemic, data from the New Home Buyer Survey shows.

According to the poll, from whathouse.com the UK’s leading new home audience platform, when it comes to buying a property, two-thirds of all UK home hunters, across all regions and buyer types, would prefer to buy a new build home versus a second-hand home.

Data suggests that 2022’s cost-of-living crunch and buyer sentiment around carbon reduction means that, when it comes to selecting a new home, buyers place energy efficiency/lower running costs top of their criteria, closely followed by a dedicated home office and access to green space.

Whether this new sentiment is here to stay or simply a kneejerk reaction to rapidly rising energy prices is yet to be determined.

The findings place the UK’s residential developers at the forefront of meeting public demand for post-pandemic living.

Daniel Hill, Managing Director, whathouse.com said: “The way we use our homes has changed so much during the pandemic. The results of the whathouse.com New Home Buyer Survey show that we’ve entered a new era of lifestyle-savvy home buying. As, given a choice, the vast majority of people now consider the benefits of a new build home to be far more desirable than that of second-hand or period property.

“With more time now spent at home, whether working from home or entertaining and with energy bills only set to rise further, it’s never been more important for home buyers to weigh up the pros and cons of new VS old.

“This research highlights the crucial role the UK’s residential developers will play in meeting public demand for post-pandemic living. As an industry we have already adapted quickly to respond to the changing lifestyle needs of buyers throughout the pandemic, and continue to progress the building of energy efficient, sustainable homes at pace.

“It’s no surprise that for home hunters in 2022 a new build home is the obvious choice over period homes.”