- New data reveals how much the most popular houses in The Sims 4 would cost in real life – and it turns out they’re not actually that unattainable
- Based on downloads, the most sought-after Sims house is 1,200 sq ft, with three bedrooms and three bathrooms – and is worth around £434,947
- If the UK’s housing market was as cheap as The Sims, the same house would cost £63k – and it’d take just five years to save for a deposit
New research has revealed how much players’ dream houses in The Sims 4 would cost to buy in real life – and it turns out they’re not as expensive as you might think.
The findings, pulled together by JeffBet, converted The Sims 4 currency to GBP by looking at the real-life cost of in-game items, and then applied this rate to the game’s most-downloaded lots to calculate how much they would cost on the housing market.
The Sims 4 is a game that offers players the chance to design their dream home – either by purchasing a starter property or by building from scratch – and can give some insight into what the ideal home looks like were the game to be translated to real life.
And according to the game’s most-downloaded residential lots, the ideal starter house has three bedrooms and three bathrooms, measures a modest 1,200 square feet in size, and costs an average 184,019 Simoleons (§) to buy.
Simoleons are the currency used in The Sims 4, and whilst it’s not meant to mimic any real-life currency, it’s possible to equate its value to pounds by looking at the comparative price of in-game items like houseplants, towels and electrical appliances.
The conversion rate reveals a Simoleon is 2.95 times cheaper than a pound, so the same property would actually cost just shy of £435k to purchase in real life.
All things considered, that isn’t too outlandish of a price compared to the UK’s housing market, as the mean detached house price was reportedly £494,459 at the start of the year.
Furnishing your dream home will also be a priority for many, and so the analysis priced up the cheapest base furniture items and decor for a three-bed house in The Sims – and Brits would need to set aside a whopping £22.9k to purchase the bare minimum furnishings.
This spend would rise to a huge £292k should homeowners be able to buy the most expensive in-game furnishings in real life – over half the cost of the house!
But what if the roles were reversed, and things in the UK were priced as cheaply as they were in The Sims 4? It turns out that purchasing your dream home would be much easier, as a three-bed, three-bath 1,200 sq ft property would cost just £63.4k to buy in real life.
In the game, the average salary for a Sim at level one (the lowest level of employment) is §19 per hour, or §35.9k per year – equivalent to a £12.3k salary in real life.
With those figures in mind, setting aside a recommended fifth of your income towards your dream home means it’d take five years to save for a 20% deposit – much faster than the reported eight years it now takes Brits to save for a deposit.
Speaking on the findings, a JeffBet spokesperson said: “Comparing in-game property prices to the real-life housing market is an interesting way to gain insight into how home costs have changed across the UK, and provide a new perspective on saving for a deposit.
“It’d be wonderful if things in real life were three times cheaper – like they are in The Sims 4 – as many would find home ownership a more achievable goal than it is right now. And while it’s not a reality, it is fun to imagine being able to buy your dream home in just five years.”
The above image is an AI rendering of what a three-bed, three-bath 1,200 square foot home looks like in The Sims, were it designed to fit in with the real-life housing market.
