Is my house worth more with full-fibre connectivity?

Locality, quality of the schools, type of neighbourhood and other factors may have previously been more prominent in terms of frequently asked questions, with wi-fi connection more of an after-thought.

However, as more people become accustomed to working from home, recent research has suggested that many homebuyers are keen to find out how to have a speedy and secure connection that doesn’t drop out, as well as the ability to download films and stream a sports game in their spare time – without the buffering.

As the nation continues on the road to a full-fibre future, we’ve certainly noticed a surge in queries concerning how fast our FTTP connectivity is. However, while we can say we’re able to supply premises with 13x faster broadband speeds*, it’s not the defining reason as to why people are signing up as a BeFibre customer.

We’re discovering that many consumers we’re talking to are still more interested in feeling valued and getting what they paid for. If they’ve bought a package of 100Mbps speeds for example, that’s exactly what they should receive. And in many instances with other providers, they’re not.

For us, it’s key that people feel like they’re buying into a provider that isn’t one for breaking promises and cares about its overall customer service throughout the relationship.

Having begun our FTTP roll-out to 80 towns and cities – with ambitions to connect 1,000,000 properties by 2027 – we wanted to explore the topic of broadband speeds a little further and whether it is a critical deciding factor in terms of home value.

Speaking to an array of property specialists, Lucy Watson, director at Abode Sales and Lettings, acknowledged that people were keen to know they could get online quickly from home, but that there was more to it.

“High-speed internet is becoming a vital ingredient in modern life,” she told us. “Given the increase in people working from home, there has been a notable change in search criteria, extra reception rooms, garages and gardens are high up on the lists.

“Having full-fibre connectivity is not going to add as much value to your property as a new kitchen or boiler for example. However, you may see a little increase in price, but more importantly a bigger boost in overall demand – and that may just be the deciding factor on securing a sale.”

Jack Ward, sales director at Solo Homes, agreed in relation to the vital need for high-speed broadband, adding: “Buyers understand the benefits of buying a property with full-fibre broadband, however, it’s not important enough to have real impact on the overall house price.

“Significant factors that control purchasing decisions still centre on location, condition and price, before moving onto other factors including local school catchments and transport links.”

Adding her thoughts to the debate, Grace Noke, Applegate Properties’ lettings manager, explained that there are challenges for the industry when discussing broadband speeds due to consumer protection regulations.

She continued: “Speeds and technology can change rapidly, so we must ensure we’re never advertising incorrect information. As a result, we advise any ingoing purchaser to make their own investigations to ensure they’re aware of the broadband capacity in their chosen area and avoid disappointment down the line.”

Check if BeFibre is available in your area, here.

*All references to how many times faster our broadband service is, depends on you being able to access ‘superfast’ type broadband services of 70Mbps (or less) and selecting one of our packages at the advertised speed. Speeds shown may be affected based on the placement of the router in your property or the device you are using.