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Open-home inspections have become somewhat of an obsession for house hunters who attend on average 52 homes over a period of six to 12 months before making a purchase.
The figure is six times higher than inspections carried out last generation, where buyers took three to six weeks and viewed eight to 20 properties before making a decision, Starr Partners chief executive officer John McCormack told The Daily Telegraph.
According to the daily, property experts said the latest obsession is the result of the flood of online property information in the hands of buyers, compared to in the past.
"On the computer they are removed from reality. The buyer needs to look at the area they want to buy and go see all the stock in their price range. Until you physically look at it you don't know," Mr McCormack said.
According to consumer behaviour expert Dr Chris Hodkinson, market research by realestate.com.au showed that of 1200 home buyers surveyed, 87 per cent were driven to look at a large number of properties because they feared missing out on their dream home.
92 per cent of house hunters reportedly spend up to 25 hours a month researching potential homes online, according to the survey.
Internet mobile use has also surged in popularity when it comes to house hunting activities by property seekers. REA managing director Greg Ellis told ZDNet.com.au the real estate industry is seeing a rapid upswing in the mobile use of its popular real estate domain site realestate.com.au.
"We're seeing north of 10 per cent growth per month, with well over 150,000 unique users per month additional to the internet site," Mr Ellis told ZDNet.
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