The desire to have a fast and reliable broadband connection has jumped into the top five requests for people moving to the country according to County Homesearch.

A survey among the 20 branches of the home-finding agency shows that among wanting a degree of peace and quiet, privacy and lovely views buyers are also looking for houses that have a good broadband connection.

With more remote working and people running small businesses from their homes, the demand for swift broadband has become an essential for many people relocating to the country and houses without it are often undesirable.

Jonathan Haward, chairman of County Homesearch says: ‘Clients who don’t really know their kilobits from their megabits or their ADSL from their wireless connection nevertheless are beginning to ask for speedy broadband connections. Some sections of the country are virtually broadband free or very patchy and this undoubtedly puts people off who want to either keep in touch with their businesses or who want to run a company from their home.’

According to the agency, broadband is mentioned in virtually every search – especially in the more remote areas. Andreas Bonney, director East Anglia, adds: ‘Put simply, everyone wants fast broadband now. There have been a couple of occasions when clients have told me not to view a house because of lack of coverage.’