Britons spend as long mulling house offer as they do considering shoe purchases

Britons spend around the same length of time deciding whether to buy a pair of shoes as whether to put an offer in on a house, a survey reveals.

It takes 26 hours on average for people to decide to make an offer on a house purchase, and 25 hours typically for them to decide whether to buy a pair of shoes, HSBC found.

The research, among 2,000 home owners and current house hunters found that with the supply of homes generally tight compared with the number of potential buyers, one in nine (11%) people had decided to put in an offer within two minutes of viewing a property.

While the decision to buy a home is rapid, the average house hunt takes 89 days - with 24 days spent researching locations, 38 days researching properties and 27 days viewing properties.

According to the survey, people take much longer to decide which holiday to book than whether to buy a house, spending five days mulling over a destination typically.

Meanwhile, people typically spend 31 hours deciding what to make for a dinner party and 17 hours to buy a new pair of jeans.

Tracie Pearce, head of mortgages at HSBC, said: "You'd expect UK house hunters to spend more time to make an offer on a house than deciding on a pair of shoes or what to make at a dinner party - but it's a sign of the times that people are making house decisions quickly to buy their dream home."