Consumer attitudes to innovative housing design

Head, J 2005, Consumer attitudes to innovative housing design , MRes thesis, University of Salford.

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Abstract

It is now widely accepted that we are simply not building enough new houses. Recent house price increases result directly from a shortage of homes. Building new houses is the only significant way that we have of meeting increases in the demand for homes. Both government reports and academic research identify the shortage of development land as the main cause of the shortage of homes. Greenfield development is both politically unpopular and ultimately unsustainable. The current emphasis is on redeveloping existing sites and using the development land that is available more efficiently. Although population growth accounts for some of the increase in demand for homes the reduction in the average occupancy of our homes has a far more significant impact. The way that we use our homes has changed significantly over the last 30 years. In the same period the type of homes that we build has changed little. House builders are frequently criticised for using outmoded technologies to build homes with traditional designs. Some commentators argue that these homes no longer suit the way that we live. They consider the highly segregated internal layouts of new homes to be particularly wasteful of scarce development land. In their defence home builders argue that they are simply supplying the homes that their customers want. They do not believe that the market exists for designs with more flexible, open plan internal layouts. Research into customer preferences in the housing market is limited and what does exist is contradictory. This research aimed to contribute to this debate. It used small scale, semistructured interviews to investigate the preferences of potential purchasers of new homes. Although relying on a small sample the research suggests that there may be a significant link between the homes that people purchase and the types of homes that they remember as a child. This link might help to explain the apparent preference of home buyers for houses with segregated internal spaces.

Item Type:	Thesis (MRes)
Schools:	Schools > School of the Built Environment
Depositing User:	Institutional Repository
Date Deposited:	29 Jun 2021 14:30
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2022 11:28
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/61063

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