This report presents the main findings of a survey carried out for MBIE by Research New Zealand on 754 purchasers of new homes during 2011-12. The survey looked at: A demographic profile of participants in the new home buying market; What buyers of new homes are buying; The factors that are influencing or driving what is being bought; Where buyers of new homes are buying (i.e. location); Who built their new home (eg, a local builder or a home building company); How the builder was selected; How long it took to finalise the design and start the build process; Who managed the build; How long the build took to complete; and How the build was funded.
Purpose
This report presents the results of a survey conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) with purchasers of new homes. The survey was conducted to enhance the Ministry’s understanding of the new home buying market.
Methodology
The sample for the survey was provided by Councils throughout New Zealand, who supplied lists of people that had had a Code of Compliance Certificate issued for a new residential dwelling between January 2011 and November 2012.
Interviewing was conducted using a mixed methodology, with buyers of new homes being invited to complete the survey online or by telephone. A total sample of n=754 respondents was interviewed, comprising n=467 online respondents and another n=287 respondents who completed the survey by telephone. All interviewing was completed between 1 February and 6 March 2013.
The survey data has been weighted by Council, to ensure that the total sample results accurately reflect the regional distribution of the new home buying market.
Results based on the (weighted) total sample of n=754 respondents are subject to a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent (at the 95 percent confidence level). This means, for example, that had we found 50 percent of respondents had their new house built by a home building company, we could be 95 percent sure of getting the same result, plus or minus 3.5 percent, had we interviewed everyone in the target population. Higher margins of error apply in the case of subsamples
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