Customer Survey
- New Homes Today 2003 - Introduction
- Key Findings 2003
- Quantitative Research
- Qualitative Research
- New Homes Today 2002 - Introduction
- Key Findings 2002
- Preference for New Housing 2002
- Affordable Housing and Planning Policies
Preference for Brand New Homes continues to increase
The Findings - Qualitative Research
Not surprisingly, the qualitative research showed that buyers almost always tend to use a mixture of information sources when looking for a new home. There was, however, a surprising lack of knowledge among a number of respondents about where to turn to find information relating to what new housing was available.
We drove around and looked for the little yellow signs that indicated new housing estates and also went to estate agents
(Lichfield)
Local knowledge and word-of-mouth recommendation both play an important role in the process, but local press advertising is felt to be valuable too, provided that it contains the basic information sought by would-be buyers (What? Where? How much?) and is not overloaded with advertising hyperbole and "lifestyle" imagery.
just the bold facts, rather than the rosy language
(Lichfield)
It should go without saying that the factual content of press advertising should be up to date, but clearly this is not always the case, as several respondents reported advertisements containing out of date information regarding prices and availability.
There was an apparent discrepancy between the quantitative and qualitative findings with regard to the use of estate agents. The door-to-door and exit poll survey clearly showed that agents were widely used and found to be reasonably effective, whereas the feedback from the focus groups suggested that agents were less effective, often failing to supply details of relevant properties. The quantitative research clearly proves that home hunters will almost by default approach local agents as one of the first steps in the process. The qualitative findings may simply therefore suggest that a proportion of agents are not especially good at providing accurate and relevant information.
Few respondents used the national press as a serious information source, and a good number were aware that builders generally use national advertising for branding. "They just do it for name awareness" (Newport) As with local press advertisements, brochures came in for some criticism for superfluous and "flowery"content. It is reasonable to conclude that what the public primarily seeks are the pertinent facts and figures, with accurate floor plans and dimensions, site plans and specification details all being high on the wish list.
I guess I could say the brochure was useful because it had all the designs in it, it had prices, it even had a little card saying about all the local amenities
(Glasgow)
The Internet
The exponential growth of internet usage in recent years is well documented. Over half of the focus group attendees had access to the internet either at home or work and used it as an information source when looking for a new home.
Once builders' web sites were accessed, most respondents were satisfied or pleasantly surprised with the content. "Virtual tours" or "fly-throughs" were highly rated and, as with press advertising and brochures, easy access to hard facts and figures was what users wanted. There was criticism of web sites that were perceived as "gimmicky", with devices such as pop-ups being almost universally derided.
"Went through the internet with all new because we decided we wanted a new house and we went to all new house builders and emailed them" (Glasgow)
This finding suggests that branding is important and that use of the internet and advertising may have complementary advantages for developers in this respect. This in turn may help to explain the findings of the quantitative research that use of the internet as a general source of information by buyers significantly exceeds its importance as the information source that leads people to their final purchase. Overall the research does point to some interesting issues concerning the roles of different sources of information that may be worthy of further study.
- The biggest single advantage of using the internet to find a new home is speed of information and the ability to source a shortlist before getting in the car to drive around the developments.
An interesting related finding was that the few buyers who had come across technology within sales centres were very impressed. It boosted their opinion of the house builder and they saw it as another time saving device. Walk-arounds and virtual reality were high on the list of useful devices for sales negotiators to have at their disposal in the opinion of the buyers.
"Optional extras" is an area that could benefit from having computerised systems in sales centres. Purchasers said they need all the help they can get when choosing colour schemes. They felt it would be useful to have an idea on screen of how their particular choices might look.