Here’s what Londoners ACTUALLY know about the property market

What do you know?

Leading property agent Portico reveals survey results from its London-wide, multiple choiceproperty quiz, carried out in August and September 2017.

New survey results published by Portico London estate agents reveal:

The question with the most incorrect answers was: ‘How many days, on average, does it take for a London property to go under offer*’.

67 per cent of those surveyed thought the average time it takes for a London property to go under offer was 32 days or less, when in actual fact, due to subdued market conditions, the correct answer is almost double that at 60 days – which only 27 per cent guessed correctly.

Despite the fact that the Bank of England recently voted to keep interest rates unchanged, there was also a lot of confusion surrounding interest rates.

Interestingly, 25 per cent of respondents weren’t able to correctly recall the UK’s current base interest rate of 0.25 per cent.

The property agent, who recently launched an Airbnb Management service, Portico Host, also asked the question: ‘How many active London rentals are currently on Airbnb?**’

An overwhelming 66 per cent of respondents were unaware of the sheer number of Londoners utilising the Airbnb service (62,286), instead opting for much lower figures.

However, the survey did highlight that Londoners know their house prices, with 80 per cent being able to identify which property out of four options was currently on the market for £300,000 or less. Londoners are clearly clued up on buying property too, with 52 per cent able to answer how much stamp duty would be due on a £500,000 additional property, and 77 per cent were aware of the minimum deposit needed for a London Help to Buy equity loan (five per cent).

Fiona Patterson, Marketing Director, PorticoLondon estate agents, said: “With so many recent tax and legislation changes, as well as new government schemes, the Portico property quiz was a great way of testing and providing Londoners with key information on buying and selling property in the capital.” 

The research, conducted as part of Portico’s property quiz, surveyed 536 adults and the average score was 49 per cent. All those who entered received their score and the correct answers once they had completed the quiz. The winner, Margaret Bannon, was announced on Monday, 4 September, drawn at random from those who achieved 80 per cent or higher in the quiz. Margaret won the chance to sell her property for free and a £100 John Lewis Voucher.

Can you do better? Click here to play Portico’s property quiz.