City Living: Survey results look to good to be true, writes Edel Morgan

An EBS survey claims that 47 per cent of first-time buyers say their property is located "exactly where they want to live". Heartwarming news but doesn't that figure seem awfully high ?

More than three quarters of first-time buyers are happy with their commuting times, according to the survey, and an astonishing 90 per cent say their commute is one hour or less.

Another startling finding was that 86 per cent of respondents said they understood the buying process "quite well" or "very well" and their mortgage provider helped them through the process.

The upbeat findings are enough to make one wonder if happy pills were administered to the 100 respondents from Dublin, Meath, Limerick, Cork and Kerry before the survey. And why would a reputable building society publish findings based on a survey limited to only 100 respondents spread over such a wide geographical area? By doing so are they not just adding to the morass of surveys being fired out that are based on a flimsy credibility?

Dara Deering, head of EBS Mortgages, says that the survey was conducted in association with Millward Brown IMS who, she said, " were quite happy that a sample of 100 would give a good indication of the market and we take our direction from them. It is a general survey of perceptions of first-time buyers and their attitudes and motivations."

If the EBS had commissioned a separate survey for each location, would the findings be very different? Being a first-time buyer in Dublin, for example, involves a level of compromise for most. That 47 per cent say their property is located exactly where they want to be doesn't ring true. Only a lucky few get to buy their ideal home in their ideal location first time around, unless they are wealthy or that ideal location happens to be an area catering for first-time buyers.

Deering disagrees, "The 47 per cent figure is up from 34 per cent last year. The number of house completions is up and choice has improved. People are now in more of a position to buy in the location they want to. A lot of new apartment developments are appearing in settled areas whereas previously new homes were mainly in the outer suburbs. Wage growth, low unemployment rates coupled with a low interest rate environment has seen many people being able to afford to buy in places that they couldn't before."

Deering says this ties in with the survey's findings that 52 per cent disagreed with the statement, "Having a mortgage of this size really restricts me in the kind of lifestyle I can live."

People may be more flush than they used to be but many first-time buyers are still being forced outside Dublin because property prices are so high. Had the EBS also targeted those living in commuter towns in Laois, Kildare, Wicklow, and so on, would there have been more complaints about travelling times?

Even those living on the outskirts of Dublin are finding their commuting time increased due to heavy traffic. One couple who bought in the outer reaches of north county Dublin finds it a struggle. One of them has to catch four buses to get to and from work, the other, who works on the southside of the city, spends four hours a day commuting. They are lucky if they get home by 8pm and are usually too exhausted to cook for themselves, and so live on takeaways. They don't have a car and taxis to and from the city centre are expensive.

So it is also hard to fathom why nearly everyone with a commute of an hour or less is happy with that, particularly if they are dependent on one mode of public transport, ie the bus, and are at the mercy of traffic every day. An hour's commute can turn into an hour and a half on a bad traffic day in Dublin.

Some of the more realistic findings of the survey were that 44 per cent said that leisure facilities in their area were poor and 59 per cent complained that buying a house was the most stressful thing they ever did.

One in three said they would like to have been given more time to choose a property and 31 per cent said that finding the right property was the most stressful part of the process.

That 86 per cent of respondents said they understood the buying process "quite well" or "very well" with the help of their mortgage broker seems astounding. Although just because they "understood" the process it doesn't necessarily follow that they necessarily sailed through it. Why else would 59 per cent of respondents say buying a house was the most stressful thing they ever did? Perhaps this 59 per cent felt flummoxed by having to sign reams of paperwork or duplicate the same personal information. Single buyers - which the survey says amount to 40 per cent - probably had to jump through hoops to get life assurance.

Did this 59 per cent have to endure endless auctions or private treaty sales of second-hand properties - where the guide price or asking price bore no resemblance to the actual selling price - before they found a property.

That 29 per cent said they intend to buy their next property within five years, signals confidence in the market. "It demonstrates that growth in the market over the medium term is likely," says Deering. But won't this growth be hampered by that 47 per cent who have discovered utopia on their first attempt?