Vanessa Hale
Director, Research
As the chaos of the summer holidays comes to a close and the autumnal weather is settling in, one has a moment to sit and think. Think about what exactly? Perhaps where the winter holidays may be spent? (Can anyone suggest a warm, sunny climate less than 5 hours away by plane?!) Or possibly it might be something along the lines of home improvement - upgrade the windows or put that extension on that we’ve been talking about all summer? Or possibly one might think bigger, like maybe we should move?
As the chaos of the summer holidays comes to a close and the autumnal weather is settling in, one has a moment to sit and think. Think about what exactly? Perhaps where the winter holidays may be spent? (Can anyone suggest a warm, sunny climate less than 5 hours away by plane?!) Or possibly it might be something along the lines of home improvement - upgrade the windows or put that extension on that we’ve been talking about all summer? Or possibly one might think bigger, like maybe we should move?
In our second edition of Housing Futures, we asked people about their plans for moving in the next five years and we asked them to describe their ideal home through a variety of questions. Some of our findings were unsurprising such as a desire to own a detached, 3 bedroom home. But one of the more interesting elements was when we asked our respondents to select one single dream item for inside their home. I’m not certain that any of us would have thought that the clear winner across the UK was going to be an AGA oven, but in fact one in five respondents selected it! However what I think is even more interesting is how the answers changed if you analysed the results by age group.
An AGA oven did not even breach the top five list when speaking to 18-29 year olds. This age group desired items that were perhaps a bit less ‘practical’ like a cinema/screening room, a home gym and exposed brickwork. The next cohort of 30-39 year olds, with perhaps a bit more disposable income, selected a wine cellar. However I should note that this was quickly followed by cinema/screening rooms! The AGA oven then tops the list for those in the 40-49 year old age bracket and maintains that lead role for the remaining age groups, with kitchen island/breakfast bar, wine cellar, wet room/rain shower and cinema/screening rooms all jockeying for position within the top five. Until you reach the 70+ where interest in wine cellars disappears and exposed brickwork reappears. Reminds me of that famous fashion phrase – what’s old is new again?
|
|
18-29 |
|
30-39 |
|
40-49 |
|
Cinema/screening room |
17% |
Wine cellar |
17% |
AGA oven |
22% |
|
Home gym |
17% |
Cinema/screening room |
16% |
Kitchen island/Breakfast bar |
21% |
|
Kitchen island/Breakfast bar |
14% |
Kitchen island/Breakfast bar |
16% |
Wine cellar |
12% |
|
Wet room/rain shower |
12% |
AGA oven |
14% |
Wet room/rain shower |
11% |
|
Exposed brickwork |
9% |
Home gym |
8% |
Cinema/screening room |
9% |
|
|
50-59 |
|
60-69 |
|
70+ |
|
AGA oven |
27% |
AGA oven |
27% |
AGA oven |
43% |
|
Wet room/rain shower |
14% |
Wet room/rain shower |
23% |
Kitchen island/Breakfast bar |
20% |
|
Kitchen island/Breakfast bar |
13% |
Kitchen island/Breakfast bar |
23% |
Wet room/rain shower |
19% |
|
Cinema/screening room |
11% |
Cinema/screening room |
7% |
Exposed brickwork |
6% |
|
Wine cellar |
11% |
Wine cellar |
6% |
Cinema/screening room |
4% |
Download the full Housing Futures 2015 report.