South West voted prime location

Even if home owners had unlimited bundles of cash to splash out, the majority of those surveyed by property website Primelocation.com would want no more than a “modest” four or five bedrooms.

Almost one third (30%) said their dream location to set up home would be in the South West, a region packed with attractions including honey-hued Cotswold villages, the dramatic coastlines of Devon and Cornwall and the Georgian terraces sweeping through the World Heritage Site of Bath.

The findings suggested that in an ideal world, most people would shun the bright lights of the city, with half of people surveyed aspiring to live in a rural village or a country town and around a fifth choosing a seaside town as the perfect place to live.

Just one in seven of 3,500 home owners surveyed would live in London, despite house prices holding up relatively strongly in England’s vibrant capital.

Victorian and Edwardian homes are seen as the most desirable properties and a multi-car garage and walk-in wardrobes were also high on people’s dream lists. The majority of those surveyed also said that their ideal home would be detached.

Lawrence Hall of Primelocation.com said: “Typical British reserve and understatement shines through in selecting of their ideal property.

“Forget sprawling mansions or flash penthouses, the quintessential English country house with enough room for a family is what the majority of Brits view as their dream home.”

The website also found that problem neighbours would be the biggest turn-off for people house hunting for their ideal property. More than half (57%) of people surveyed said that anti-social neighbours would put them off buying a home, followed by 28% who felt that an unkempt garden would make a home less desirable.

Here is where Britons said they would most like to set up their perfect home (percentages have been rounded): South West, 30%; South East, 25%; London – suburbs and the City, 7%; London – West/Central (including Mayfair, Chelsea and Kensington), 7%; East of England, 6%; Yorkshire and the Humber, 4%; Wales, 4%; Scotland – Highlands and Islands, 3%; West Midlands, 3%; North West, 3%; Scotland – Central and Lowlands, 3%; East Midlands, 2%; North East, 1%.

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