English BBC Highlights Real Estate Search Enthusiasts
Hobby of Searching Real Estate Sites All Day
"Dopamine Released Just by Imagining"
You, who spend all day browsing real estate information sites even though you are not urgently looking for a house, might be suffering from 'real estate search addiction.' According to a BBC survey in the UK, the act of looking at actual transaction prices and interior photos of real estate listings provides a great sense of happiness to the human brain. One user even confessed to feeling an addiction comparable to "porn level."
On the 6th (local time), BBC introduced stories of Britons addicted to 'Rightmove.' Rightmove is a comprehensive real estate information portal in the UK, offering services similar to platforms like 'Zigbang' in Korea.
Katie Smith, a woman in her 30s who checks Rightmove dozens of times a day, confessed, "I have no intention of moving right now," but added, "Rightmove is like pornography to me." She feels an immense addiction to viewing actual transaction prices and interior photos of houses and comparing them with other homes.
Recently, Smith's hobby has been traveling to the actual locations of properties she likes. Regardless of price, she spends her day seeing the listed houses with her own eyes and checking nearby homes.
Like in Korea, there are various real estate platforms in the UK, including Rightmove, and competition among them is said to be fierce. Rupert Murdoch, a media mogul representing the Anglo-American world, recently offered to acquire Rightmove for a staggering ?6.2 billion (about 10.92 trillion KRW) but was rejected. Rightmove's management considered the offer "too cheap." This indicates how intense the enthusiasm for the real estate platform industry is.
Another 'real estate platform addict,' Sam Kennedy, says his hobby is looking for a house he might move to in the future. He confessed to the BBC, "I like imagining what I would buy first if I won the lottery."
He also said that searching real estate platforms for tens of minutes every night after his children go to sleep has become a 'hobby.' Sam said, "I especially like looking at floor plans," adding, "Floor plans are good for checking the actual volume of the house and understanding how to utilize the space."
So, is it really possible to become 'addicted' to real estate platforms? According to a survey conducted by BBC together with the behavioral science analysis institute 'Orangegrove,' it turns out that humans can feel happiness even from searching actual real estate transaction prices.
Luisa Dunbar, CEO of Orangegrove, explained to the media, "Just imagining yourself buying an attractive house activates the brain's dopamine system," adding, "Even if you don't actually purchase it, you can feel corresponding pleasure, which is one way to enrich your mental state." Dopamine is one of the neurotransmitters secreted in the brain, known to be particularly involved in emotions related to happiness.
Moreover, platforms are designed to continuously attract human attention through various features such as recommendation algorithms, highlights, and high-definition images. Dunbar added, "For example, if a listing has a sticker saying 'Just added,' it can trigger human competitiveness or anxiety," adding, "It encourages us to focus even more."
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