Should the property buying process be taught to schoolchildren?
A survey commissioned by Stipendium found that seven in 10, or 72%, of homebuyers think the process of purchasing a property should be taught to schoolchildren, as the majority felt underprepared and overwhelmed when purchasing their last home.
The survey also showed that 66% of those who have purchased a home in the last six months were unaware of how the actual process worked.
It was also revealed that 60% did not feel they had access to enough resources to truly understand the process of buying a house.
What’s more, 72% think it would be useful to have been taught about buying a house while at school, so they had a better understanding of what to expect when they did reach this momentous life milestone.
“Buying a house can be an incredibly daunting task, especially for first-time buyers, and it says a lot that so many existing homebuyers are still in the dark about the process despite having done it before,” Christina Melling, chief executive at Stipendium, commented.
“While it may seem a lifetime between being at school and buying your first home, it’s a huge event and one that would be time well spent educating children about.”
Melling said that, currently, homebuyers remain at the mercy of industry professionals to facilitate the purchases.
“While they do a great job, it’s impossible for them to educate every single buyer at every step of the property purchasing timeline,” she stressed.
The survey of 1,103 recent UK homebuyers – those who purchased a house in the past six months – was carried out on behalf of Stipendium through consumer research platform Find Out Now.
