Groundbreaking new research from Wick Marketing shows that while 77% of homebuyers prioritize trust, only 21% of prospects say they highly trust builders.
Additionally, 78% of new home buyers who purchased between November 2022 and March 2023 felt burdened, disappointed, stressed or even regretful about their new home purchase decision.
That’s tough news to hear. Especially considering the vast challenges that new home builders and master-planned community developers have navigated these past few years.
The Good News
This new survey data reveals a unique window of opportunity for new home builders to differentiate themselves and, ultimately, gain a timely competitive advantage over more complacent competitors.
Homebuyers are telling us what they want and asking homebuilders to provide a significantly better experience and a higher-trust environment. Knowledge is power, and there are specific actions you can take to meaningfully differentiate your brand in the eyes of today’s prospective homebuyers.
Buyer Segments
The data revealed three distinct attitudinal segments among buyers who purchased after multiple interest rate hikes between November ’22 and March ’23. While this type of research typically sorts out into groups of somewhat equal size, it’s notable that only 22% of the buyers felt confident in their purchase process and satisfied with their decision.
Some 38% of the buyers felt burdened by the weight of this momentous decision and disappointed in the support of the professionals involved. And a whopping 40% felt stressed, rushed and even regretful of their home purchase.
Prospects
Of those planning to purchase within the next two years, 81% have already started their research, and 42% plan to purchase within the next year. So, a substantial percentage of your buyers for the next year are doing their research now.
Immediate actions you can take:
- Shop like a homebuyer. Audit every online and onsite touchpoint your buyer may experience with your brand. Are you creating the experience you want them to have?
- Be their best resource. Buyers want much more support than they’ve been getting. How else can your brand do more to meet their needs?
- Reconcile with real estate agents. Buyers trust real estate agents more than builders to help them make informed, confident homebuying decisions. How can your brand fill that gap or embrace that alliance? What’s going right and wrong in these relationships with your brand?
- Earn buyer trust. And keep it. Most interactions with a brand either build trust or erode it. Intentionally closing this trust gap at every turn will help move your brand away from operating in a low-trust environment, which can be costly.
To access more details in our presentation, Beyond Buyer Profiles & Demographics: Who is Buying Homes Now and Why, as well as our free interactive Tableau data visualization tool, where you may view the data that’s most meaningful to you, please visit wickmarketing.com/research.
About The Study
Wick Marketing commissioned its research partner, Audience Audit, Inc., to conduct the study to gain a comprehensive understanding, backed by statistically significant data, of recent homebuyers’ attitudes and perceptions when choosing a builder and purchasing a new home.
The goal was to better understand people who, despite ten interest rate hikes, inflation and sometimes inflammatory headlines, still bought new homes. Additionally, the desire was to learn more about what current prospects prioritize in their homebuying experience.
The study took a uniquely quantitative approach to uncover different attitudinal segments within the buyer audience. These segments encompass individuals who hold distinct but common perspectives on the homebuying process, their confidence levels, their degree of trust in builders and real estate agents, as well as their priorities in the homebuying experience.
Methodology
This 15-minute online survey was fielded March 27-April 22, 2023. The majority of U.S. states are represented by the 1,347 respondents. The margin of error is +/- 2.6 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
If you’d like to explore data-informed actions your brand can take now to better support and connect with today’s homebuyers, we’d love to help! Please visit wickmarketing.com/research, or reach out to Barbara Wray at barbara@wickmarketing.com or (512) 564-4289 to chat.
