What does your property mean to you?

Is your property simply an investment or more than that?

We asked this question in our last newsletter reader poll and just under half of respondents said that their property was both a home and an investment nudging just in front of the 45 per cent of respondents who said that they regarded their property as their home first and foremost.

In comparison, only three per cent of readers said that their property was just an investment.

When faced with the question of how they regarded their properties first and foremost in a similar Ratedpeople.com survey, an overwhelming majority of 95 per cent opted for their property being their home above an investment.

Home is where the heart is

So why is our home and what we do to it so important to us? Philosopher Alain de Botton says that we create our own home to contain tangible things that take us away from our lives outside of it.

"What we call a beautiful house is one that rebalances our misshapen natures and encourages emotions which we are in danger of losing sight of.

For example, a business executive who spends her life shuttling between airports and steel and glass conference centres may feel an intense attraction to a simple rustic cottage - which can put her in touch with sides of her personality that are denied to her in the ordinary press of her days."

Making your mark

We often talk of putting a stamp on our homes and it stands to reason that we want a home that offers escapism from the world outside; something that reflects a haven which is very personal to us and our own tastes.

Instead of catering to a potential buyer in the current market, there is recent evidence to suggest that we're home improving to our own tastes once more as we prepare to stay in our homes for longer.