When requesting to view a house, which enquiry methods do UK adults prefer?
In an age where most of us prefer to make our purchases online rather than in person, you might expect digital channels to dominate when it comes to the property industry. However, our survey of 2001 UK adults found that when it comes to enquiring about buying a house or booking a viewing, over the phone and face to face interactions are still very much preferred. We asked:
When enquiring about or requesting to view a home, how would you interact with the seller (developer, estate agent or individual)?
- The most common method for UK adults when enquiring about or requesting to view a new property is a phone call, opted for by 42%.
- More than a third (35%), prefer to communicate face to face when making property inquiries or viewing requests.
- Email is also a popular choice, with 31% of UK adults opting it for property-related communication.
- Text messages are preferred by 10% of UK adults for these types of property interactions.
- While text messages and social media platforms like WhatsApp, Messenger, or other chat functions are favoured by just 10% of UK adults.
- Finally, live chat is the least frequently used method when enquiring about or requesting to view a new property, with just 9% saying they’d use this function.
Preferred Communication Method |
Percentage of UK adults |
Phone call |
41.63% |
Face to face |
35.33% |
Email |
30.53% |
Not sure |
13.59% |
Text |
10.39% |
Social media (WhatsApp/Messenger/Chat) |
10.29% |
Live chat |
9.00% |
Methodology: In November 2024 we pulled a demographically representative sample of 2001 UK adults using the market research company, Censuswide. Respondents were instructed to tick all the apply, hence the totals adding up to more than 100%.