Male homebuyers 'don't do homework'

While Britain's female homebuyers have a better idea of what they want, men are far more aggressive bargain hunters, according to new research from propertyfinder.com.

The research shows women are three times as likely as men to offer the asking price for their home. In the current market, 17% of women are paying what the vendor is asking, compared to just 5.5% of men. Men are pushing much harder to secure a deal that suits them. 22% are making offers of 10% or more below the asking price, compared to just 10% of women.

However, British men are picky purchasers, looking at 30% more homes than women before buying - an average of 6.8 homes - compared to a lesser 4.5 homes viewed by women.

The reason for this is that women are much more thorough with their research before they begin viewing potential houses, the research showed.

Warren Bright, chief executive of Propertyfinder.com said, “Women know what they want when searching for a property and they do their homework thoroughly before viewing, which is in stark contrast to their male counterparts.

"British males have more of a tendency to decide what they are looking for along the way, consequently viewing more properties than the average female house hunter before finding the one that they want.”

However, the average male Brit is prepared to spend more of their hard earned cash than women on their ideal home, spending on average £243,000 to buy the house they want and applying for a £206,000 mortgage. The average UK woman will spend less (£238,000) and apply for a smaller loan of £193,000.

Despite the interest rate rise earlier this month, both sexes are still expecting house prices to rise. British women show more confidence in the market, expecting a rise of 5.6% compared to just 2.1% from men.

37% of women believe house prices will rise as more people buy property as an investment, while 46% of men think prices will rise because their area is up and coming. 41% of males and 32% of females attribute the future rise to more people settling in their area.

Confidence in the market remains steady, with expected price rises in the next 12 months slipping slightly month-on-month from 5% in July to 3.7% this month.

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