There’s a lot of pressure to buy a house, and half of us are buying homes that we come to regret. A new survey by Compare the Market reveals that 39% of Aussies have at least one regret about the home they bought.
- Almost 40% of homeowners have regrets about the house they bought
- Not looking hard enough for faults was the biggest regret, followed by sacrificing on the number of bedrooms
- Almost one-in-five received bad advice about buying, with many told to “wait for prices to come down”
The biggest regret was not being vigilant enough when looking for faults in the home, with almost a third of regretful homeowners listing it as an issue at 32%. Sacrificing on the number of bedrooms to save money was the second-biggest regret at 29%, while some wished they had bought in a more central location at 28%.
The smallest regret was buying too close to a train line, with only 10% of regretful homeowners raising it as an issue. Yard space was another regret with 19% of homeowners saying they regret sacrificing on backyard space to save money.
| Home buying regrets | Australian homeowners surveyed with regrets |
| I didn’t look hard enough for faults | 32% |
| I sacrificed on the number of rooms | 29% |
| The location isn’t central | 28% |
| I went over my budget | 26% |
| I sacrificed on yard space | 19% |
| I bought too close to a train line | 10% |
For Aussies who are renting the home they live in, not looking hard enough for problems with the building was their number one regret as well. Over 11% said that was a regret about where they were living, with going too-far over the budget the second biggest at 9%.
Compare the Market’s survey also revealed 17% of Australians said they had received bad advice on purchasing a house.
The number one most common bit of bad advice was “wait for prices to come down”.
Other nuggets of fool’s gold included “don’t worry about an inspection report” and “buy the biggest/most expensive home you can afford as it will go up in value”.
Compare the Market’s General Manager of Money, Stephen Zeller, notes that there are lots of pressure on Aussies to buy homes, but you should never skip on a building inspection report.
“It’s really interesting to see that overlooking home defects was the biggest regret for Aussie homeowners. Sometimes they miss things that come up later, but usually inspectors are really good at finding issues with a building, particularly ones that could cause a lot of grief later on,” Mr Zeller said.
“You may decide to withdraw from buying to buy due to the condition, you might want to negotiate some work being done on the home before you buy, or even to reduce the price as you’ll need to spend money to fix it.
“There’s rarely ever ‘the perfect house’, but it’s still important to take your time and figure out your top priorities for a home, your budget, and some preferred locations.
“This is where Compare the Market can help. Buyers can use borrowing power calculators to help set a budget, download free property and suburb reports to help you learn about a house or particular area, and our home loan specialists are on hand to help you from application to settlement.”
To learn more about the survey, visit: https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/home-loans/features/house-buying-regrets/
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For interviews and more information, please contact:
James McCay | +61 450 930 374 | [email protected]
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