Broadband Speed Helps Boost House Prices

In another sign of the growing importance of broadband in people’s lives, a study has revealed that the availability of superfast broadband can actually increase house prices.

A poll by ISP Review questioned 733 people between mid July and February of this year. It discovered that nearly two thirds (68.8 percent) of UK internet users would be put off from buying a beautiful new house if it lacked a fast broadband connection.

“Would you pay more for a house with faster broadband?” the poll asked? 50.4 percent answered no, but 49.5 percent said yes they would pay more.

Broadband Importance

In the ISP Review poll, 73.9 percent admitted that broadband was “critically important” to their home life. 37.2 percent of respondents also said they would pay more for a holiday/hotel with in-room broadband.

The findings should hardly come as a surprise.

Back in October 2009, a survey from broadband comparison website Top 10 Broadband, found that broadband speed was a key factor in where British people choose to live. Four out of ten admitted they would not move to a house if it had a ‘poor broadband service’

That survey also found that six out of ten Brits admitted to “broadband envy” of neighbours. 60 percent of those polled said that they would be annoyed and envious to find out a neighbour was receiving faster speeds than them.

But an alternative view was put forward in October 2010, when a BSkyB survey found that almost half of UK broadband users don’t care how fast their Internet connection is, as long as it works.

Connection Pressure

Whatever the argument, it is clear the importance broadband now plays in people’s lives, as witnessed by the lengths some unconnected communities in remote areas go to, in order to get connected.

Unfortunately, it has been estimated that  around three million people in the UK still cannot get a basic line speed of around of 2Mbps. Indeed, in September an experiment in Yorkshire saw a pigeon beat a computer in a race to transfer a 300MB video over a distance of 75 miles. The pigeon made the journey in just 80 minutes, while the computer only managed to upload 24 percent of the video in this time.

The UK is currently ranked 33rd in the world for broadband speed, with an average household connection of 7.71 Mbps, according to broadband metrics group Ookla.

Despite this, Ofcom’s latest International Communications Market report, which looks at take-up, availability and use of broadband, found that the UK is lagging far behind other countries when it comes to super-fast broadband  and mobile speeds.

Last October the Government pledged to invest £530 million for broadband investment. Prior to that in May 2010, BT pledged to invest £2.5 billion in rolling out fibre to around two thirds of UK homes by 2015.