When choosing housing, price, location, and quality remain very important criteria, but the reputation of companies also plays a significant role.
In the first quarter of 2017, the EIKA group of companies conducted a survey of its customers who purchased housing in 2016, in order to find out what criteria and characteristics they used to select and make a decision to purchase a home. The survey, which has been conducted since 2006, reveals that over the past three years, the most important criteria for home buyers when choosing a home are price, location and quality, but emotional criteria such as the company’s reputation or the view from the window have a significant influence on the final decision.
Analyzing the data of the housing selection criteria for the last three years – 2014, 2015 and 2016 – when a client is just starting their search, we see three dominant criteria in the top five: the quality of construction work, price and location in the city. In 2014, we also saw the housing maintenance cost criterion in the top five of the housing selection criteria, and the previously relevant building energy efficiency criterion has been pushed out of the top five in recent years by the housing layout criterion. The company reputation criterion, which entered the top five in 2015, maintained its strong position (fourth place) in 2016 as well.
According to EIKA Development Director Martynas Žibūda, when we analyze the decisions already made by customers, we see that emotional criteria are gaining more influence. “In 2016, customers indicated that when making the final decision, the district/location in the city was in first place, the company’s reputation was in second place, followed by the year of construction, price and quality of construction work. It is likely that such a distribution of decision criteria reveals the desire of residents to live in a convenient location in terms of infrastructure and logistics and to be sure that the company selling housing, protecting its reputation, will fulfill its obligations not only in the sales process, but also in other stages of the housing’s life,” says M. Žibūda. Meanwhile, both when choosing and after making a decision to purchase housing, for several years now the least relevant criteria have been recommendations from friends and acquaintances, the level of housing equipment and housing credit conditions.
The most important criteria for choosing a home when starting your search (19 criteria):
The most important criteria for the decision to purchase a home (19 criteria, 10-point scale) in 2016:
When evaluating the choice based on housing characteristics, the top five, with slight changes in positions, have remained the same over the past three years: sound insulation, parking options, operating costs, insulation materials, and the environment near the building/yard. However, according to M. Žibūda, when we evaluate customers’ responses about the decision they have already made, we see that emotions are a bit more intense here: operating costs, sound insulation, insulation materials remain very important to customers, but the view from the window and the environment near the building and yard are no less important.
The most important housing features when choosing a home (11 features):
The most important housing features for decision-making (11 features, 10-point scale) in 2016:
Interesting aspects can be distinguished by analyzing the sources of information searches. “As many as 62 percent of those who answered the question of how they learned about housing for sale indicated the Internet (online advertising, advertisements on real estate portals and project websites), and 21 percent of respondents learned about housing for sale from recommendations, although, as mentioned above, recommendations from friends and relatives have much less influence on decision-making,” says M. Žibūda.
The survey was conducted on customers who purchased housing in the following EIKA projects: Domino House, Santariškių House, Eika House in Pilaitė, Tilto St. 12, Basanavičiaus 9a and Link Parko.
About the Eika group of companies
Founded in 1992, EIKA is one of the largest real estate development and construction groups in Lithuania, successfully developing residential, commercial, public and other purpose building projects, creating a new quality of life and work. The company has already built almost 4,000 apartments and 320 thousand square meters of buildings. EIKA has been awarded many times as the best real estate developer in Lithuania, and the company’s projects “Santariškių namai” and “Eika namai in Pilaitė” have also become the best in Lithuania. New quarters are currently being developed in Pilaitė, Žirmūnai, Bajorai, Jeruzalė, this year it is planned to start construction in the real estate complex on Gedimino pr.
More information:
Jorūnė Juodžbalytė
Marketing and Communications Manager
UAB “Eika”
Phone: +370 520 45809
Mobile: +370 686 80126
Email: [email protected]