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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Three months on from Brexit; UK households divided on next steps

Three months since the UK’s decision to leave the EU, Hitwise, a division of Connexity reveals the mind-set of Britons post vote. Based on search terms of 3 million online UK consumers, the evident unease and unsettlement continues, highlighting clear distinctions between demographic groups up and down the country.

  • Affluent Brits rely on political positioning to inform perspective
  • Gen Y and Students look to take matters into their own hands with ‘Brexit petition’
  • Renters concerned about the immediate effects of Brexit

Three months since the UK’s decision to leave the EU, Hitwise, a division of Connexity reveals the mind-set of Britons post vote. Based on search terms of 3 million online UK consumers, the evident unease and unsettlement continues, highlighting clear distinctions between demographic groups up and down the country.

Not satisfied with the decision, and looking to take matters into their own hands, Hitwise found that Brits looking to change the final vote were largely Gen Y (18-34 year olds) and students – who were nearly 30 per cent more likely than the rest of the population to be searching for ‘Brexit petition’. Those of lower affluence also had this in their top 10 Brexit search terms. Searches for ‘Brexit regret’ over the past three months have been 37% more likely to be made by those either unemployed or self-employed.

Searches from those of higher affluence were focused on the economy, including ‘Post Brexit Global Equity Loss’ and ‘Brexit Recession’. This group’s most popular search terms in and around Brexit, however, were dominant with politician names, performing 41 per cent more searches compared to the low affluence group; with Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson front of their minds.

Continuing to demonstrate concern over money and finance, searches for ‘mortgages’ were twice as likely to be made by those in £100k+ households compared with any other household income group - before the Brexit vote, searches for ‘mortgages’ were driven by low to mid income households (£15-55k).  More generally, however, interest in mortgage options has been evident with the following searches increasing post Brexit:

  • ‘Shared ownership mortgages’
  • ‘Brexit mortgage rates’
  • ‘Can I get a mortgage’

Economic concerns over the past three months continue to drive the searches with an interesting disparity between renters and homeowners – renters tend to be focused on the immediate effects of Brexit, whereas homeowners are looking at the broader economic consequences.

Renters

Homeowners

‘Petition’

‘Property prices’

‘House prices’

‘Brexit Consequences’

‘Regret’

‘Economy’

‘Article 50’

‘Will Brexit happen’

Nigel Wilson, managing director at Hitwise, says “With the European Referendum vote being met with uncertainty, unsurprisingly the nation is turning to the internet to source information as to the consequences of how the decision will affect their lives.

“It is clear different areas are of more concern for those of varying affluence levels. Post Brexit financial brands will need to be looking at the different searches these alternate audiences are making to understand intent and provide them with the information they need – whether it’s mortgage support or the future of the UK economy, consumers will now be turning to professional services firms to pave the way for supporting a panic free future.”