We'd rather have a dream home than children

There was once a time when we could have it all: a dream property, a family, all the bills paid, and not a penny of debt. Now, however, property prices have gone through the roof and there's a choice to be made. The surprising thing is that when it comes down to it, we'd rather have the property of our dreams than those 2.4 children.

The discovery was made by PrimeLocation, which asked people to rate how important certain life goals were to them. The dream home came fourth on the list with 90% of people rating it as important. This came after spending time with loved ones, having healthy savings in place, and marrying the right person.

Children, meanwhile, were further down the list of must-haves, chosen by just 73% of people.

Sacrifices

Some 12% of people are already in their dream home, but two thirds said they would make sacrifices to have it. Around a half said they would work longer hours, a third said they would move out of town, a quarter said they would move to a different area altogether, and a fifth said they'd even take on two jobs in order to afford a property.

The survey didn't ask them whether they would sacrifice children in order to buy the property of their dreams, but their list of priorities would seem to indicate that plenty of them would.

It's hardly surprising that these kinds of sacrifices would have to be made when you look at the estimates people put on the amount they would have to spend to secure their dream home. Londoners came up with the highest average figure, at £9.75 million. This was followed by those in the East Midlands at £5.59 million, those in the South East at £2.24 million, and those in the East of England £1.79 million.

Only three regions thought they could secure their dream for under £1 million: The South West, The North West and Wales.

Why?

This raises the issue of quite why we feel the need to own our dream home when it comes at such a high price. Technically, once we are warm and dry, and not overcrowded or uncomfortable, our 'shelter' needs are met, and we can move onto more important things like discovering who we are in life, and achieving our potential.

However, our homes offer more than just shelter, we consider them to be a public statement of who we are. They are also a shorthand to measure our status and success. This is partly a means of showing off - which is why we hanker after things like a detached property with a big garden and a pool where we can throw parties and parade our property.

However, it's also partly about showing ourselves that we are a success - which is why our dream home includes things like a walk-in wardrobe, so that every day you can remind yourself that you're the sort of person who can afford this kind of luxury.

The question we have to ask ourselves is whether all this really matters. Is our home really the best way to measure our success in life? Is it worth taking a second job, sacrificing having a family, and working every hour of the day to achieve?

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.