After all the Royal Wedding fever has died down and with the patter of a little baby Posh on the way, it would seem that the royal couple have been sidelined…
A new survey by House Exchange, the mutual exchange website for social housing tenants, reveals that nearly twice as many Brits said they would rather swap homes and lives with David and Victoria Beckham (13%) than with Kate Middleton and Prince William (7%). The poll shows that it is in fact the glamorous jet-setting lifestyle of the Beckhams that us Brits really hanker after rather than the down to earth, low-key approach favoured by Kate and Wills.
The British public, however, were quite happy to move into some rather Royal properties with Buckingham Palace (12%) and Warwick Castle (10%) coming top of the list of famous House Exchanges, closely followed by Monica’s flat in friends (9%) and Mum and Dad’s House (5%).
The survey results also show that many people are happy in their current homes, especially the over 55s, of which more than half (55%) said they wouldn’t want to swap homes. This is in direct contrast to the 16-24 age group, where only 19% were happy to stay were they were.
Kim Doran, House Exchange Manager, said: “Young people often struggle to find their ideal home due to high rents and difficult lending conditions. However, the situation is much bleaker for social housing tenants who are not on the property ladder. We estimate nearly 500,000 of the UK’s 3.9 million social housing tenants would like to move home but can’t.
“They end up stuck on transfer lists for years and this is why we have developed House Exchange, a mutual house exchange database for social housing tenants anywhere in the UK.”
The House Exchange website currently has around 70,000 properties listed around the UK and makes around 1,000 successful swaps per month. Over half the social housing tenants that sign up have been trying to move for more than two years, yet 80% of tenants using House Exchange find their perfect match within six months, and many move within only six weeks.
House Exchange boasts two exciting features to make it easier for tenants to find their perfect match.
Three way swap
If tenants can’t find a direct swap, they can find a third property to complete the house exchange. A three way home swap is a good way of completing more house exchanges. It also helps more people move into homes that are appropriate for their needs.
Real-time matching
House Exchange matches all properties instantly. This means that when a perfect property match is found, tenants are notified immediately by email.
Visit House Exchange at www.houseexchange.org.uk