Homebuyers spend 20 minutes deciding

Homebuyers typically spend just over 20 minutes viewing a property before they decide to purchase it, according to a survey.

Mortgage provider ING Direct said this was only a 10th of the time people generally took to choose a TV package, while it is also well down on the 284 minutes people spent when they bought a new TV set and the 164 minutes it took on average to choose a coffee table.

About 44 per cent of buyers said they felt under pressure to act quickly in case another person snapped up the property t per cent felt that estate agents had talked up interest from other parties and 21 per cent said they had encouraged them to make a quick offer.

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In 93 per cent of cases where couples buy a property together they make a joint decision, but in the seven per cent of cases where they disagree, women are three times more likely to have the final say than men.

Johan de Wit, chief executive of ING Direct, said: "At first it seems strange that people will spend such little time making one of the most important decisions of their lives, but regardless of the state of the market, buyers are feeling pressured into making snap purchases to avoid missing out on the home of their dreams."