Community and cost are the biggest draws for park home buyers, according to a new survey by Quickmove Properties…

The latest industry insight from park home selling specialist, Quickmove Properties, has lifted the lid on just who the average park home buyer is, why they opted for a park home purchase and how they have benefited as a result.

The survey of current park home owners to have purchased via Quickmove found that the average park home resident is 67 years old. Notably, the youngest respondent is aged 50 and the oldest aged 84, thus highlighting park home living to be a popular option for both semi-retirement and retirement life stages.

When asked why they decided to move to a park home, the vast majority (63 per cent) cited the more relaxing lifestyle on offer, with a fifth (20 per cent) also stating that the cost of living in a bricks-and-mortar home was simply too high, while the strain of maintaining a bricks and mortar home was also a factor (seven per cent). Cost was also an influential factor when it came to choosing which park home development they wanted to live on. When asked which factors influenced this decision, the availability of park home stock ranked top (23 per cent), followed by the price (20 per cent) and the affordability of site fees (19 per cent). However, the presence of an established community also ranked high (13 per cent), as did the proximity of their park home purchase from either the coast or the countryside (12 per cent) and the availability of local amenities (11 per cent).

Previous research by Quickmove Properties found that the average park home buyer is releasing £128,000 in bricks- and-mortar equity when making their move, so how are they using it?

Just over a quarter (27 per cent) are opting to invest or save their hard-earned nest egg, Eighteen per cent opted to splash out on a holiday, 17 per cent used it to boost their pension, 11 per cent paid off their outstanding loans, and ten per cent gifted money to their family.
Sales director at Quickmove Properties, Mark O’Dwyer, said: ‘When it comes to the most appealing factors driving a move to the modern park home lifestyle, the affordability of a park home, along with the personal and financial freedom they provide, are themes that feature throughout. Whether it’s the more relaxing lifestyle on offer, the benefit of released equity, being near beautiful coastal or countryside areas, or the readymade community feel, there are plenty of benefits to a park home purchase. Hardly surprising then, that the market has seen a dramatic increase in size since the pandemic, increasing by 15 per cent in the last year.’