Many Brits 'without home insurance', despite flooding
Personal insurance
12th September 2008
Online estate agents have been have overtaken in popularity by DIY and furniture stores, suggesting people are choosing to refurbish their homes instead of moving.
According to new figures from internet usage monitors Hitwise, visits to online estate agents have fallen from 0.85 per cent of all UK web visits a year ago, to just 0.55 in August.
Meanwhile, the number of people visiting home and garden retailers has risen from 0.4 per cent to 0.59 per cent over the same period, reported the Daily Telegraph.
Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise, commented: "One of the factors behind the success of house and garden retailers online has been the increase in online DIY queries as people look to improve their accommodation on a budget."
The research also found that the top ten 'how to' searches relating to DIY have gone up by 25 per cent in the last year.
Founded in 1997, Hitwise currently measures user data on one million websites.
