Aircraft noise is the fourth biggest deal-breaker for home buyers, a new survey has found.
The din from passing jets would persuade 41% of potential purchasers to withdraw an offer or lose interest completely, according to research by Populus for the property website SellingUp .
That makes it the fourth biggest turn-off, behind only noisy neighbours (70%), evidence of pests (44%) and the seller's rude attitude (42%).
More than a third (34%) of house hunters would reduce their offer if they had to contend with aircraft noise, the survey of over 1,000 people revealed.
Interestingly, this is only the eighth highest figure, perhaps suggesting some home buyers are much more sensitive to the disturbance than others.
The 75% who would either pull out of the purchase or demand money off for aircraft noise is the fourth highest proportion out of all the factors, behind noisy neighbours (87%), pests (83%) and poor security (77%), and level with low energy efficiency.
Writing in her blog about the findings on www.sellingup.com, Claire Andrews commented: "Campaigners fighting against the expansion of the UK’s biggest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, might feel vindicated by our survey when it comes to their concerns about the effect of airborne noise pollution on property values.
"A jumbo-sized 41% of buyers would be prepared to see a purchase fly off into the horizon if they noticed serious noise from the skies above.
"More than one third (34%) of buyers would expect a price reduction (23% in the thousands and 11% in the hundreds of pounds) no doubt to make up for sleepless nights and the cost of triple glazing."
Holiday operator Club Med last month launched an online tool allowing house hunters to check how badly properties are affected by aircraft noise.
