Nov. 30, 2001
If you've spent a Sunday afternoon recently looking at new homes, you may have wondered if builders ever ask buyers what they hope to find in a house. The answer is "yes." The latest survey of customer preferences by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is entitled, What 21st Century Home
Buyers Want.
But while builders do ask would-be buyers what they want, builders don't always seem to follow what the buyers tell them. That is particularly true when it comes to formal living rooms and some significant items like the number of stories, number of bedrooms, and size of the garage.
According to NAHB, new homebuyers want larger homes with lots of space. They prefer large kitchens adjacent to family rooms, with the two rooms visually open. They want features like high ceilings and island work areas in the kitchen. Buyers also are very interested in exterior features such as a front porch, deck, or patio in the rear and exterior lighting. In addition, laundry rooms and dining rooms are widely considered to be essential in new homes.
Although the general direction of consumer desires is toward homes that are bigger and equipped with more amenities, some features of new homes have now improved to the point that consumers are relatively satisfied. For example, while consumers want large kitchens, most are reluctant to see the kitchen expand further at the expense of other space. The number of bathrooms that is typical of the homes being built today is enough for most homebuyers. Continuing a trend identified in earlier NAHB studies, many homebuyers do not think it is necessary to have a living room.
The recent NAHB study looks at features, products, amenities, and layouts preferred in new homes. Keep in mind this was a national study, and we all know Texans have minds of their own.
While the median size of survey respondents' current home was 1,770 square feet, the homeowners said they wanted a median of 2,071 square feet in a new home. Home shoppers expect to pay a median of $141,000 for the larger home, up from the $130,000 estimated median of their current house. Interestingly, the median size for a new single-family home sold in the United States last year was about 2,070 square feet.
The back-to-the-country movement is alive and well nationwide. About one-third of survey respondents (31%) prefer a rural location. A little more than a third (37%) said they would prefer an outlying suburban location. Another 28% prefer a close-in suburban location, and only 5% want a home in the central city.
One-story homes are preferred over two-story homes by a margin of 52% to 35%. This preference for single-story homes rises as the age of the head of the household increases but decreases with the price respondents expect to pay. The remaining 13% want a split-level home. It should be noted that the share of buyers wanting a one-story or split-level home is higher than the share of new homes actually being built that way.
Two out of three respondents prefer nine-foot or higher ceilings on the first floor. Almost 40% prefer nine-foot or higher ceilings on the second floor.
And the desire for the "great room" continues. More than 40% said they want the kitchen and family room to be adjacent and visually open, separated only by a half-wall. Twenty percent prefer a completely open arrangement. Only 9% want two rooms side by side with a full wall between them. Eighteen percent want the rooms to be completely separate, and 8% want an oversized kitchen and no family room at all.
Nearly 40% of NAHB survey respondents say they would like a minimum of four bedrooms; 49% would accept three bedrooms. About one-third of new single-family homes completed in 2000 had four or more bedrooms, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
While most respondents want three or more bedrooms, only one-third would use three or more for sleeping. Most say the extra bedroom would be used as the guest room or home office.
Continuing the spaciousness theme, one-fourth of respondents say they want at least a three-car garage, even with the extra cost. The majority (54%) would settle for a two-car garage. About 16% of new homes completed in 2000 had garages for three or more cars.
