Top of the list was an en-suite bathroom beating the rest of the competition with a third (35%) of people saying this is what they’d like the most.
Next on the list, and with all three garnering around a quarter of the vote each, are; an indoor swimming pool (25%), a summer house, garden room or conservatory (25%) and a walk-in wardrobe (24%). Fifth place went to a bigger garden, with 1 in 5 (20%) admitting this is what they’d love in their dream home.
Tastes don’t seem to have changed too much, as Ocean’s research has revealed** that the top five choices were the same in previous years, but in a slightly different order, with an indoor swimming pool being top of the list with just over a third of the vote (36%). Second and third place were an en-suite bathroom (33%) and summer house, garden room or conservatory (32%) and a walk-in wardrobe came in fourth (27%). Fifth place went to a bigger garden, which took a quarter (25%) of the votes.
The recent research shows that women are the main driver in most of the top five dream home choices, except for wanting an indoor swimming pool, where men and women had similar views.
In each of the other top five dream homes choices, women were keener than the men:
en-suite – 4 in 10 women compared to 3 in 10 men
summer house/garden/conservatory women – 3 in 10 women compared to 2 in 10 men
walk-in wardrobe women – a third of women compared to only 3 in 20 men
bigger garden – the split between men and women is only very small, with just a 4% difference between the two: women 22% compared to 18% for men
For men the top feature that they would most like to have in their dream home is still a snooker or games room, with almost four times as many men than women wanting this addition in both surveys. One in 6 (17%) men, compared to just 5% of women, wanted a games room in 2014, while three in 10 (28%) men compared to only 7% of women saying they wanted this in 2013.
How tastes change with ages was also clear from the survey. 19% of people aged 25-34 said that they would like a gym in their dream home, compared with just 3% of those aged over 55.
Similarly, almost twice as many over 55s dream of having a real fire compared to people under 25 (21% v 12%). An office or study was a dream feature for just 12% of under 25s and 21% of over 55s.
Ian Williams, spokesman for Ocean commented: “An en-suite is not what most people imagine would create a dream home, but perhaps the idea of some peace and quiet in a busy household is a ‘dream’ for busy families these days. And, while an indoor swimming pool is definitely something luxurious, it lacks the usefulness of an en-suite. The results suggest that perceptions about what makes a ‘dream’ home are changing to include usefulness as well as luxury.”
