Nearly half of UK homebuyers continue to explore neighbourhoods in person to find properties missed by online portals, according to new research from The Property DriveBuy.
The survey of 1,133 recent buyers found that while online platforms dominate house hunting, they are far from the only method used. An overwhelming 97% of respondents said they relied on property portals, with Rightmove (42%) and Zoopla (19%) being the most popular. More than half (52%) admitted to checking these platforms multiple times a day during their search.
Limitations of online portals
Despite their popularity, online portals have limitations. Outdated search filters restrict users to criteria such as price, size, and fixed geographic areas, meaning many suitable homes never appear.
As a result, 75% of homebuyers reported taking a proactive approach by physically visiting areas they hoped to buy in. For more than a third (34%), this led to discovering suitable properties that had not appeared in their online searches.
Exploring in person also helped buyers expand their options. Around 67% discovered neighbouring areas they had not previously considered, and 38% found promising properties in these new locations that had been excluded online due to search boundaries.
In fact, 23% of buyers ultimately made an offer on a property that had not appeared in any portal search, highlighting the tangible limits of a purely digital search.
Looking ahead, 65% of respondents said that receiving real-time alerts while walking or driving past available properties would improve their next home search and overcome portal restrictions.
Steve Foreman, founder and CEO of The Property DriveBuy, commented, “These results confirm that today’s portals are too restrictive and fail to reflect how people really want to search for a home,” he said. “At The Property DriveBuy, we’re rethinking the process by making it more intuitive and less restrictive.
“Our technology sends real-time notifications as you explore neighbourhoods, helping buyers and renters discover great properties they might otherwise miss.
“It’s a smarter, more human way to search, one that is led by curiosity, not just filters. As well as being a more reactive search tool, it brings a little bit of that much-missed magic back to the home buying and renting process, where you turn a corner and unexpectedly find your dream home waiting. What’s not to love about a touch of serendipity?”
