Personalities of house buyers

New research shows that personality counts when you buy a house. However people react to the housing market there is a personality to match, the Building Societies Association (BSA), the trade association for UK's building societies, discovered in its newly published House Price Expectations report. They have divided the buyer market into the following categories:

Aspirant fledglings

These plucky homebuyers have a strong desire to have a home they can call their own, no longer wasting money renting. AF's are optimistic, but because of their inexperience, are likely to seek advice from family and friends. Many worry they might be left behind if they don't buy and their dream home might escape their reach.

Been around the block

Experience counts for these homebuyers likely to rely on their own market analysis than media reports, drawing on what they learned during previous moves. Most accept house prices could fall and as they already have a foot on the property ladder, they do not fear being left behind with rising prices.

Savvy long-haulers

The majority of investors fall into this category. They are in the property game for the long haul, having already considered alternative investments. Looking to provide for their retirement, they give greater consideration to the timing of their purchase than other homebuyers.

Bandwagoneers

Copycat investors entering the property market - because others have done so - are easily influenced by television programmes and newspaper articles about how lucrative buy-to-let can be. This group is in the minority, however.

Wallflowers

Wallflowers might fall into any of the above groups. Shyly standing on the sidelines, they carefully consider the timing of a purchase and are ready to enter the fray if they see prices fall. Although they still expect prices to rise, a greater proportion hope prices will fall over the next year. 'People are motivated by a variety of reasons to enter the property market, a diversity that adds to the resilience of the market should house price growth decrease or even fall,' says Adrian Coles, director general of the BSA. 'In addition, different groups rely on different sources of information to construct their expectations of future price movements and the general state of the housing market. The report suggests those buying property do give consideration to a wide number of factors and enter the market with their eyes wide open,' he adds.