Suburbia Observed

What homebuyers want often is not what they get—usually because they cannot find the type of home they want in their market. A survey of 2,000 recent buyers of both new and resale homes sought not only to identify what homebuyers want and what kinds of communities appeal to them, but also to explore the gaps between what homebuyers want and what currently is available. The survey, by American LIVES, Inc., a California-based market research firm, compared homebuyers of master-planned communities, buyers of new construction homes, and buyers of resale homes, as well as the demographics of buyers. Natural open space, walking and biking paths, and sidewalks were at the top of the amenities list of the homebuyers sampled from Florida, Arizona, California (both the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas), Texas (Houston and Dallas areas), and Colorado. The same items that topped the list in a similar 1995 survey, these amenities were the ones that appealed to all survey respondents, regardless of what type of home they bought or what kind of community they currently live in.

Thanks to Urban Land Magazine