UK hooked on 'property porn'

The credit crunch might be hitting us hard but it is not dampening UK's surfers addiction to 'property porn', according to research.

A report from website Globrix revealed that Britons spend hours online everyday searching for properties that are way out of their league.

Nearly 40 per cent admitted to regularly surfing the web looking for property while one in 10 surfers confessed to spending more than an hour a week property gazing, according to Globrix.

The worst addicts spend more than three hours a week scouring the web for homes.

The research shows that the internet is now as important, if not more, than television when it comes to property entertainment said Dan Lee, head of Globrix.

"Everyone knows that the UK's property crazy - you just need to look at the TV schedules for proof of that," he said.

The poll of over 2,000 adults found that 38 per cent of surfers have conducted searches to see how much their neighbours' house is worth. When surfers aren't busy checking out how much the Joneses' house is worth, 22 per cent admitted to searching for 'aspirational homes', property that they could never afford.

According to Hitwise, a web monitoring firm, searches for house prices have soared in recent weeks.

"British people are just obsessed with house prices full stop. We search for them when they’re increasing, hoping to make a quick buck; but also when they’re declining, panicking about our nest eggs," said Robin Goad of Hitwise.

Have you searched for the value of your neighbours home online? How much time do you spend searching for property online? Have your say on the Web User forums.

www.globrix.com
www.hitwise.com