Who are the house buyers in this hellhole of a recession that we find ourselves in? Builders certainly would like to know who the house buyers are because many of the builders themselves continue to go into bankruptcy waiting for the home building market to recover.
I recently read an article by Builder Magazine, in conjunction with American LIVES, and I found out some very interesting answers on this very hot topic. They (Builder/American LIVES) conducted a survey of home shoppers and house buyers in May 2010 from California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia/Washington D.C., Michigan and Indiana.
There were 646 survey respondents at the time it was published.
The key areas the survey focused on were:
- Attitudes about the economy
- Product preference
- Attitudes about home styles
- Preferences toward green and energy-efficient features
- Attitudes toward the changing role of the home
- Demographics
The market is definitely changing, as far as what home buyers want in a house and what they are willing to pay for it.
Houses built just five years ago may not have the upgrades and the energy efficiency levels of what is available in building products today.
Remember, we are all consumers and there are many of us out there with low confidence in the job market. It’s for that reason alone that people are keeping a tight grip on their wallets.
It will take some time for the purse strings to loosen enough for the market to return to healthy levels.
But for now, there is a finicky set of house buyers waiting and watching for the right financial conditions to occur for themselves and the economy as a whole.
Some of the key findings of the survey respondents were as follows (quoting from the article):
I started as a home-stalker… visiting brand new homes under construction in the neighborhoods near my house. That inspired me to write about home building and home renovation projects — chronicling homes during different phases of construction from a consumer's point-of-view. Basically, the tips you'll find in my articles are a collection of checklists for what I think should (and should not) go into building or remodeling a quality home.
