Broadband a big factor for Shropshire buyers
Slow broadband speeds can play a major role in house sales, with the lack of superfast connectivity a potential dealbreaker, property experts have said.
County estate agents said broadband speed is so vital that buyers are sometimes not even looking at a property if they discover that superfast speeds are not available in the area.
Many areas of Shropshire have a broadband speed slower than 2Mbps (megabits per second) and some parts of the county are still without any broadband connection.
Alison Martin, from Bowen Son & Watson estate agent in Oswestry, said agents do get asked about broadband speeds by potential buyers.
Speeds
"People do mention broadband and ask us to get in touch with the owners to ask about speeds. We do get asked about it and it has been something people have asked about for a few years now," she said.
"I don't think we've ever had anyone pass on a purchase for the broadband speeds alone, but it may be a contributing factor in a decision if there are a few little things someone doesn't like.
"We find that people might ask before they even go and view a property as well, so they might decide not to view a property that doesn't get good broadband."
Property search website Rightmove has now added a broadband speed checker to its listings alongside factors such as quality of local schools and transport links.
And company bosses said research conducted among among 3,000 people found that broadband details were ranked as a more important feature when searching for property than information on transport links and nearby schools.
Bernard Phillips, head of consumer platforms at Rightmove, said: "We already offer a number of tools to help consumers make informed decisions about a property including local schools and transport links, and we're pleased to be the first to add data on broadband, something that has become ingrained in people's lives and an important factor when choosing a home."
The Government's rollout of the superfast network to reach 95 per cent of the UK promising speeds of up to 30Mbps has been delayed until 2017, with the latest figures from the communications regulator Ofcom, showing that these broadband speeds are unavailable to a quarter of the country.
