Female house hunters would happily swap their Prada for the perfect property

Would you give up your Gucci and Stella McCartney to buy your dream home in Gunnersbury or Stamford Brook?

FindaProperty.com surveyed over 2000 women to find out the importance they place on property. The research revealed that 86% of them would sacrifice luxuries to own their ideal home.

Designer clothes are the first luxury to go in order to buy the perfect property in for example, Bedford Park and borders, Turnham Green, Grove Park, Acton Green, Chiswick Park, Brackenbury Village or Strand-on-the-Green.

Around 62% said they would happily ditch the designers to help buy the house of their dreams. In addition, more than half would trade in buying a new set of wheels (57%) while 53% would quit the quest for the body beautiful and give up their gym membership. Top five items women would trade for their perfect house or flat:

1. Designer clothes (62%)
2. New car (57%)
3. Gym membership (53%)
4. Eating out (49%)
5. Holidays (38%)

Christian Harper of Chiswick estate agent OliverFinn: “The economic situation has meant that homebuyers must save substantial deposits to get a mortgage. Most of us aspire to a happy home life so it comes as no surprise to me that people will forego luxuries in order to move up the property ladder."

Meals out are next thing to be axed, with 49% of women choosing to dine in to help them save for a deposit while more than two thirds (38%) are willing to give up their annual trip abroad.

The latest Halifax research shows that single women are increasingly a force in the property market. The proportion of mortgages singletons have arranged have more than doubled from 9.8 per cent in 1983 to 23.1 per cent in 2003. Over the next decade single-person households will increase by two million. Many will be under 35s, and at least 65 per cent of this group will be women.

September 1, 2010