Would you want to live on Swing Swang Lane? Or how about Squeeze Guts Alley? No? I don’t think you’re alone.
I’ve been thinking about the difference a name makes when looking for a property and the images it conjures up about the type of home it will be. Owning a property is something that’s aspirational – a dream come true for most – so I wouldn’t be surprised if many people would pass on buying a home on Bland Drive.
Although unusual street names are more amusing than anything else, I think there really is something to the name of a street and the ability to sell a property on it.
Our recent research has shown that the names of New Build estates seem to be chosen because they conjure up images of country life; plots in Liberty Gardens, Orchid Fields and Octavia Gardens seem like very grand places to live indeed!
Perhaps the same can be said for street names.
About a year ago, Zoopla ran a story that proclaimed that streets that had the word ‘Warren’ in its name tend to have some of the most expensive properties in the country. Scanning down their list of sought-after names, you will see the words ‘Park’, ‘Green’, Hill’ and ‘Meadows’.
Is it me, or does this trend hark back to the grandiose days of Georgian town-planners? Or maybe it’s come back to something closer to home – the 70s perhaps and a slice of the Good Life?
So if the current trend is a 70s throwback – what’s next? Well, if history repeats itself we’ll be looking to the future again (and some can argue the trend has already started). Smart homes with full connectivity, space-like design and all kinds of hidden features might be the next phase of property evolution.
What kind of names will those streets have? Celestial Lane or Solar Street may creep their way onto the next list of top street names.
If the next trend really is going to be a ‘future frenzy’, we need to keep moving with the times and embrace innovation and new ways of working.
What do you think is the next trend?