Brits spend four hours a week fantasy scrolling for their dream home at home or abroad, according to new report

Britain is a nation of aspirational property dreamers, with a new report revealing well over a quarter (38 percent) of Brits are day dreaming and fantasy scrolling for a new pad at home or abroad every day – even though the majority don’t think they’ll ever be able to afford it.

A third (34 percent) spend so much time thinking about their dream property that it interferes with their job and the majority (87 percent) often think about their dream home once a day, according to a new report titled ‘Rethinking the Dream: The future of holiday home ownership’ by property co-ownership platform, MYNE.

On average Brits spend half a work day (four hours) every week scrolling through properties at home and abroad, on estate agents’ websites (two hours), TikTok (two hours), Instagram (an hour) and Facebook (an hour).

On top of this, half (47 percent) say that whenever they go on holiday, they spend time looking in estate agents’ windows just to see what properties they could afford.

However, despite nine in ten (92 percent) dreaming of owning a holiday home, 27 percent don’t think they’ll ever be able to own a holiday home in the UK or abroad.

The report reveals that cost (41 percent) is a factor, along with taxes and fees (38 percent) especially with the threat of 100% property taxes in Spain, maintenance costs (33 percent) and dealing with local bureaucracy (28 percent).

Nikolaus Thomale, property expert and Founder of MYNE, said: “Over the last few years owning a property abroad has become more complex. Especially for British people post-Brexit.

However the world has changed significantly in the last few years with more people craving flexibility in the way they work and live, looking for more sustainable options, and being smarter with their money. So whilst British people still crave the benefits of a holiday home, the traditional holiday home model doesn’t suit the majority anymore.”

According to the new report, two thirds of Britons (65 percent) would be open to investing in a co-ownership/shared holiday home to help navigate the challenges of foreign ownership.

Reduced upfront costs (64 percent), increased flexibility (58 percent), access to high quality places (52 percent) and environmental benefits (27 percent) all make the idea attractive to Brits.

Nikolaus Thomale continues: “In business, the concept of a ‘shared economy’ is nothing new, but its potential in the holiday home space remains largely untapped.

“Much like shared ownership in the UK, this is an investment into a property but you share that investment with other people who are also looking for a dream holiday home. Purchasing a portion of a MYNE property can start from as little as £99,000 and ranges depending on the location and features of the property. Say you use this for the average period of six to eight weeks a year, the average customer could save at least £10,000 a year in comparison to renting similar properties of this premium calibre.

“We’re often asked how we make this work for multiple owners. To put it simply, we thoughtfully select suitable co-owners – including retirees, affluent couples, and families – whose lifestyles present as little disruption to each other as possible so everyone gets to enjoy the property for at least six weeks.”