Short-term trend or long-term change? Understanding the important difference – Raja

The past five years act as a very neat – if somewhat extreme – microcosm of this point. A pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, a sharp rise in interest rates from all-time lows to 17-year highs, a high turnover of Prime Ministers (four from two different parties); it has been a turbulent period, and the property market has undergone notable changes of its own in line with these political and economic shifts. 

Market Financial Solutions’ ‘Homebuyer Wish List’ research shines a light on those changes. In the summers of 2021, 2024 and 2025, we commissioned Opinium to conduct an independent survey of thousands of UK homebuyers.  

Each time we have put the same question to them: what factors or qualities matter most to you when searching for a home to buy? 

The data highlights some interesting trends and offers valuable insight into the state of the market right now. 

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How have homebuyers’ demands evolved since 2021? 

When we first carried out the Homebuyer Wish List research, the UK was still in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Social distancing rules were starting to be relaxed, but life was significantly different from pre-virus, and the data reflected that point. 

Four years ago, 92% of the homebuyers surveyed said that a property’s garden or outdoor space was either ‘extremely important’ or ‘somewhat important’ to them in their search. It ranked highest of all the factors given, followed by ‘the property’s square footage’ (89% said this was important). Following 18 months of lockdowns and isolation, a so-called ‘race for space’ had started to define the property market, with homebuyers looking outside of towns and cities in the desire to get more space (indoors and outdoors) for their money. 

Fast forward to today, and just 77% of homebuyers (15% fewer) stated that a property’s outdoor space was important to them, while just 67% (22% fewer) said the same of the square footage. 

Conversely, when we ran the survey again in July 2025, the highest-ranking factor was ‘the quality and finish of the property’. In 2021, this factor ranked fifth.  

What does this tell us? Well, one could fairly deduce that, given borrowing costs have risen notably since 2021, homebuyers are increasingly searching for properties in good condition, meaning they do not have to factor in potentially expensive (and often hard to budget for) refurbishment projects. This makes it easier for them to calculate the amount they want to borrow. 

Indeed, this theory is supported by the fact that just 56% of homebuyers in 2025 said that ‘the potential for extensions and conversions’ was important to them. This was down from 76% in 2021 and meant that this year it came bottom of our Homebuyer Wish List (15th place). 

What lessons can we learn? 

The insights we get from this data every time we run the survey are useful. They provide a window into the hearts and minds of the nation’s homebuyers, in turn giving a strong indication of the types of property – and potentially the parts of the country – that are garnering the greatest demand. 

For me, however, this is a more valuable lesson to take from our regular running of this research project: property market trends and just that – trends – and must be understood in context. 

That might sound like a simple point. But when we were in the throes of the pandemic, and our research reaffirmed that homebuyers were prioritising spacious properties with gardens, it fed into a broader narrative in the property market, which was that urban living was on the wane.  

Market commentators fuelled this narrative; seaside towns were going to explode in popularity, while London was going to be semi-abandoned. In other words, knee-jerk reactions are common and should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt. 

I founded Market Financial Solutions back in 2006, and for nearly two decades now, we’ve been working with brokers, investors and developers as they have sought out new opportunities across the property market.  

In that time, I have seen firsthand how policy, regulation, geopolitical events and macroeconomic trends shape the way these groups think, feel and act. But I have also seen how it is dangerous to mistake short-term market shifts for being a long-term direction of travel. 

Each individual Homebuyer Wish List provides a snapshot in time. And when placed side-by-side, they underline how quickly things can change in the property market. 

Lenders must keep this front of mind when delivering their products and services. Speed and flexibility are valued qualities in the specialist lending space for a reason – brokers and borrowers are constantly adapting to the world around them, and they need lenders that can adapt, too.