House-hunters take just 17 minutes on average to make up their mind over a potential new home, research has found.

A study by ING Direct looked at the behaviour of 1,000 homebuyers who had purchased a property within the last 12 months.

Almost half of the people surveyed said that a belief that the property would be snapped up by another buyer should they delay was the driving factor behind the swift decision time.

In addition, 38 per cent said that they relied upon "gut instinct", claiming that they knew within five minutes whether a home was the one for them.

Commenting on the figures, Lindsay Sinclair, chief executive of ING, said: "The pace of today''s housing market puts a huge amount of stress on buyers and our research shows this can lead to snap decisions being made when choosing a new home."

In comparison, homeowners spend an average of 54 minutes choosing curtains for their new home, the study also found.

According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) inquiries from first-time buyers fell at the fastest rate for around three years last month.