Customer Survey
- New Homes Today 2002 - Introduction
- Key Findings 2002
- Preference for New Housing 2002
- Affordable Housing and Planning Policies
- Executive Summary (2001)
- Glamorous, Aspirational, Well Designed (2001)
- More people want new homes (2001)
- Higher density homes - the impact of PPG3 (2001)
- The power of brand in house building (2001)
- Tomorrow's Homes Today (2001)
Preferences for New Housing - More People want New Homes
The Findings - Quantitative Research
45% of door-to-door respondents indicated that if they were to move they would only consider a new home. This is an encouraging result, although it should be recognised that those questioned in the sample could have a predisposition to new or nearly new.
More meaningful is the response to this question from exit poll respondents, who had yet to make their final purchasing decision. Of these an encouraging 27% would consider a new home exclusively, and a further 64% would consider either a new or second hand home. Only, 9% would not buy a new home under any circumstances.
Last year’s research utilised a different research methodology but indicated that 24% of new homes purchaser would ‘prefer’ to buy new. This year’s research indicates that there is a continued growth in consumer preferences for new build housing.
There is no strong differentiation by socio-economic group, gender or region in people’s preference for new homes.
Understanding why potential house purchasers might consider second hand homes in preference to new is key. Further questioning of those who would not consider buying a new home indicated that the largest proportion of these would not do so because they had a perception of poor build quality. This is an astonishing figure when one considers the build quality of modern housing. The next highest proportion would not buy new because they felt that the houses on new developments were too close together. This indicates that housebuilders face considerable challenges in marketing new build housing built to higher densities to meet Government planning guidance.
People move home to access additional living space and to pursue employment opportunities
By far the largest proportion of respondents (39%) cited the need for more room as the main reason for wanting (or having) to move home, followed by job relocation (19%). Developers will need to provide homes that meet people’s space requirements and that are located close to areas of major employment.
There was a fairly even split between the rest of the reasons alluded to for moving, although it was interesting to note that only 3% cited separation or divorce as a reason for having to move.
The Most Important Factor in Choosing A Home
It comes as no surprise to see "location" as the most popular factor (36%), followed by price/value for money (21%). Interestingly only a very small percentage of respondents identified the external design of the property or the company that built it as the most important factors (both 4%).
Anticipating that "location" would be the most popular factor, respondents who answered in this way were then asked to give the second most important factor in choosing their new home. Of these respondents, 33% cited price/value for money, followed by 22% each for internal design and plot size. External design still faired badly, at 8%, and only 2% thought that the company that built the home was the decisive factor.
Government has placed considerable emphasis on improving the design of new homes. Therefore the lack of concern about the external design of new homes is worrying. However, there is evidence that consumers are increasingly satisfied with the quality of new housing design (see analysis of qualitative research), which might explain the low level of interest.
The importance of the housebuilder
Housebuilders work in a highly competitive environment and it is important to understand the extent to which consumers currently differentiate between developers. Therefore the question was asked of all respondents, "How important to you is the company that built your house?"
A total of 64% either felt that it was totally unimportant, unimportant or had no opinion. Only 36% rated this as an important or very important factor in the buying decision. However, probing further, amongst the 1189 respondents who would only have considered a new home, the importance of the builder is more highly rated, with 48% ranking it as either important or very important.
The advantages and disadvantages of buying a new home
All respondents were asked to cite what, in their opinion, was the single most important benefit of buying a new home. 28% said a "clean canvas", i.e. somewhere where they could stamp their own identity in terms of décor etc. 21% cited low maintenance, followed by the provision of a guarantee and low running costs (both 13%) and a simplified buying process (e.g. no chain) by 12%.
Examining the results amongst people who would only consider a new home further broke down this response. The findings broadly reflected the above, with 31% stating "clean canvas" and 21% low maintenance.
Conversely, respondents were asked their views on the single greatest disadvantage of buying a new home. The largest proportion, 24%, stated that ongoing building work was the worst aspect. However, this was very closely followed, at 22%, by faults and after sales issues.
There are some clear messages for housebuilders about minimising the disruption from ongoing building works to consumers. Housebuilders must continue to implement quality management programmes and seek to minimise defects.