A garden and garage are vital for house buyers

GARAGES AND gardens have topped a list of property “musthaves” for house hunters across the Yorkshire and Humber region.

The findings are based on analysis of searches made on property website Zoopla over the past year.

Parking was the third most popular search term used in the region by people hunting for properties on the website, while bungalows with their practical ground floor layouts, was the fourth.

Laura Howard, a consumer expert at Zoopla, said: “The once unfashionable bungalow continues to make a comeback highlighting an ageing population that wants to enjoy the benefits that single-floor living provides.”

Searches for detached homes in Yorkshire and the Humber were also common, as were those for an annex and properties in a rural location.

The analysis also found that searches for cottages were particularly common in the Midlands, northern England, the East of England, the South West and Scotland.

While garage was the most popular search term used generally, house hunters in London were most likely to crave some outdoor greenery, with garden being the most common search term used there.

With property prices in London being higher typically than elsewhere, Help to Buy was another popular search term used in the capital.

In Wales and Scotland, house hunters appeared to be particularly likely to be looking for privacy, with the search term secluded appearing on their top 10 lists.

It follows reports that the number of new house sellers coming to market is shrinking at the fastest rate in a decade. Sellers are being deterred by “lacklustre price growth” amid ongoing political uncertainty, according to the website Rightmove.