Entertaining, spending time outdoors and having space for a third car have become a part of Connecticut residents’ lifestyles, if homebuyers’ preferences for large great rooms or family rooms, porches and patios and three-car garages are any indicator.
Except for a few differences, Connecticut homebuyers’ preferences largely reflected those of homebuyers across the nation. The National Association of Realtors recently completed its first national survey of homebuyers, according to a press release from NAR, and the survey took into account different age ranges and other demographics.
“This is the most comprehensive look at buyer preferences ever produced and ranks findings in a variety of ways including buyer age, first-time and repeat buyers, regions of the country and locale,” said David Lereah, NAR chief economist, in a prepared statement.
NAR’s study showed several preferences that Connecticut real estate agents have also noticed. The study noted that buyers in the Midwest and Northeast are more interested in homes with a finished basement. Many homebuyers are looking for walkout basements that can be finished, according to Barry Rosa, Prudential Connecticut’s new homes and land director. Homebuyers often are finishing basements and making them into dedicated entertainment rooms with home theater systems, Rosa said.
‘Interesting Information’
Prudential Connecticut does some of its own surveys to determine what Connecticut homebuyers are looking for in a home.
“We look at a ton of data,” Rosa said.
When marketing new subdivisions or projects, Prudential agents ask potential homebuyers a number of questions about the features that are important, Rosa said. After buyers decide on a home, agents ask why they chose that particular home and what features they like.
The NAR survey results showed many of the same findings, Rosa said.
“Generally, this pretty much mirrors [what we see],” he said.
One exception was NAR’s findings about the preferences of different age groups. NAR’s survey results showed that younger buyers care about closeness to schools, parks and playgrounds, while older buyers are more interested in single-story homes, or at least homes with a bedroom on the first floor. The results also show that older buyers are more likely to buy a home in a small town.
But Rosa has seen a lot of older buyers shopping for homes in communities on the edges of urban areas. They like to be close to parks and amenities offered by bigger cities, such as the arts and restaurants, Rosa said. He has noticed a sort of cycle in Connecticut, with younger homebuyers looking for homes on two-acre lots in the woods and older people coming back to live in urban areas.
“We seem to come back to liking to be closer to the things offered in cities,” he said.
According to NAR’s results, most first-time homebuyers tend to purchase older homes that are located in a central city, while repeat buyers are more likely to buy a new home.
One of the biggest trends Rosa has noticed in Connecticut is homebuyers’ preference for large great rooms or family rooms. At the same time, living rooms are becoming smaller and smaller.
“They’re really getting small,” he said.
Many homebuyers want to use the great rooms or family rooms for entertaining and the rooms are often better suited for that than formal living rooms because of their proximity to the kitchen, Rosa said. One subdivision currently being marketed by Prudential Connecticut has a model home with an enormous great room and an exceptionally small living room. The homes in that subdivision have been selling quickly, Rosa said.
Many Connecticut homebuyers also are looking for large master bedrooms and bathrooms, Rosa said.
The NAR survey found that the most desired rooms or spaces are garages, living rooms, extra bathrooms and laundry rooms, according to NAR’s press release. The importance of a garage is echoed in Connecticut homebuyers’ preferences, Rosa said. Many homebuyers who are buying a house in a new subdivision where there is the option of getting a three-car garage are opting for that, he said. The third bay can run about $20,000 extra.
“It’s a very expensive option, but popular,” Rosa said.
Connecticut homebuyers continue to have a preference for homes with patios or sunrooms, Rosa said, a preference the NAR survey found prevalent among buyers in the West.
Trends in the South and West are interesting to look at because those trends often work their way around the country, according to Greg Scott, president of New Haven-based Beazley Co. But surveys like NAR’s are more helpful to developers than Realtors, Scott said.
“I think it’s interesting information and certainly we have seen similar surveys,” he said. “They’re pretty accurate.”
But in a state with so many older homes, there aren’t many places a Realtor can use the results, he said. NAR’s results could be helpful for homeowners to decide how to renovate their home and make it more valuable, but trends change quickly, Scott said.
“You’re living in your house. Do it the way you want,” he said.
Scott has found the No. 1 feature that homebuyers want is a reasonably priced house, he said. They also look for a home that has been updated with a new kitchen and bathroom because in today’s market, many homebuyers pay near the top of the home’s price range and don’t want to have to do major renovations after purchasing the house, Scott said.
Some of homebuyers’ top preferences named in the NAR survey results were central air conditioning, with three-quarters of respondents naming that as a preferred feature; and a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, with half naming that as a preference. Forty-two percent of buyers named a bedroom on the main level, 41 percent named a patio or oversized garage, 40 percent said they wanted a home that was cable or satellite television-ready and 37 percent named fencing as an important feature.
Urban buyers were more likely to look for a home with hardwood floors and a finished basement near public transportation, while rural buyers look for a single-story home with few trees, according to NAR’s results. Suburban buyers look for sprinkler systems, eat-in kitchens and homes that are less than 10 years old.
