In a recent survey conducted by UK Property Development – who analysed 500 homeowners that purchased a property within the past 12 months – they explored how buyers are already using AI in the home buying process, and where they found the technology most valuable.
They found a quarter of recent homebuyers believe AI-powered search will soon overtake traditional property portals like Rightmove as the primary means for finding a home.
The results also illustrated AI adoption in home-buying is limited, as only 15% of recent buyers cited using AI tools such as ChatGPT or Claude at any stage during the purchasing process.
Among the buyers already using AI, its primary use appears to be information gathering rather than conducting property searching. The most common use at 15% is sourcing and understanding information about the home-buying process, whereas 11% of buyers used AI for advice on submitting and negotiating their offer.
AI appears to be useful when it comes to identifying and appraising suitable buying locations – 32% of buyers said the technology helped them narrow down their search location.
When contrasting and comparing possible locations, buyers used AI to search crime rates (20%), local amenities such as restaurants, bars, and cafes (14%), local shopping facilities (12%) and transport links (10%).
47% of buyers who use AI for searching suitable properties say the technology was most useful in directing them to specific property listings based on their stated criteria. Furthermore, 29% mention they found potential properties on their own but then used AI to check and compare them.
12% of respondents mentioned AI pointed them to the major portals, while another 12% say the technology directed them towards specific estate agent or developer websites.
When homebuyers were asked how important they believe AI will become in the homebuying process, 26% of buyers said it would become more important than the major property portals who currently dominate the space. Another 22% expect that AI will become equally important as the portals.
