In January of this year, the EIKA group of companies conducted a survey of its clients who purchased housing in 2018, in order to find out on what criteria and characteristics they based their selection and decision to purchase housing in a selected project. The survey, which has been conducted since 2006, shows that over the past two years, the most important criteria for home buyers have remained the same: when choosing a housing project – location in the city and the reputation of the company, when choosing a specific housing – the quality of construction work and the price of the property being purchased.
For the second year in a row, the top five criteria for choosing a housing project remain the same 4 dominant criteria: district/location, company reputation, environment near the building, yard and parking options. In 2018, guarantees for purchased housing returned to the top five, replacing the sales manager’s service criterion. Over the past year, the company’s reputation criterion has replaced the location in the city criterion. This criterion not only broke into the leading position, but its importance has increased significantly over the year. In addition, it is noteworthy that in the 2018 study on the selection of housing project criteria, the importance of all 14 characteristics increased. The importance of the infrastructure and distance to the city center criteria increased the most.
Housing project selection criteria:
According to EIKA Marketing and Communications Manager Jorūnė Juodžbalytė, the key insight of this year’s customer portrait is that customers want to live comfortably in the city center. “This absolutely reflects the situation that has developed in the market over the past two years. Sales of middle and prestigious class housing, which are developed in the city center or near the center, are growing. Vilnius residents are beginning to appreciate the convenience of living in the city – infrastructure, school, kindergartens, the ability to do without a car, leisure in the city,” J. Juodžbalytė lists the advantages of living in the city center. The criterion of the importance of the developer’s reputation also reflects the market situation – the market share of the TOP 5 developers has not changed for several years. Large developers sell more than 40 percent. of all new apartments.
When evaluating the choice based on the characteristics of a specific apartment, the top five, with slight changes in positions over the last two years, remains the same: the quality of construction work, the price of the purchased property, the layout of the apartment, the energy efficiency of the building, the cost of maintaining and operating the apartment, and this year the soundproofing of the apartment, which joined the top five, joined the top five. In 2018, compared to 2017, the importance of the level of installation of the apartment and the height of the building increased significantly. According to J. Juodžbalytė, in the housing sales portfolio, we notice that people are increasingly buying fully furnished apartments. “This is a changing trend, when people are increasingly starting to value their time and guarantees,” says the representative of EIKA, assessing the changing portrait of the housing client.
Housing selection criteria:
The survey was conducted on customers who purchased housing in the following EIKA projects: Domino namai, Eika namai in Pilaitė, Bajorų alėjos, Live Square, Namų pynės, Žalgirio135, Tilto g. 12, Baltas Lapas and Antakalnio panorama.