More than one in ten Irish consumers are planning to buy property in the next 12 months, according to the latest Carat Pulse survey, covering residential property purchase.
The research found that younger buyers (the 18-34 category) were by far the most open to buying property, with 21% saying they planned on buying in the next 12 months.
The main motivation for purchase among this age group was to buy a first home (72%).
The notion of “the property ladder” is losing sway among prospective buyers, according to the survey. Just 13% of buyers said the idea of getting on the first rung had anything to do with their plans to buy. One-fifth of those who bought in the last three years, however, counted this as a motivation.
In the 35-54 age group, 9% said they were going to buy a house or apartment in the same period, whereas among respondents 55 and over, the figure was lower again at 8% with 20% of this category likely to downsize. Of those surveyed, 7% had purchased property in the last three years.
Several barriers to buying property were also identified in the survey; 21% of the youngest (and most interested) category said that raising the value of a deposit was the biggest obstacle to making a purchase. Eligibility for a mortgage was identified as a barrier by 14%.
Carat also considered the impact, if any, of advertising for mortgage products. According to the survey, the advertising enjoys good reception, especially on TV, where 65% of audiences picked up on ads and 11% went on to contact the provider. The figure for uptake via radio was slightly lower at 56% and for print, marginally lower again at 54%.
Print had a higher follow through rate than radio though with 7% of respondents saying they picked up on print ads and contacted the providers in question, as opposed to 4% for radio.
