Thursday 7 October 2010
QV.co.nz Home Services Survey
A recent QV.co.nz survey looking at the products and services that people review, consider, or purchase around the time of moving house has shown some surprising results. If buying and selling your home isn’t a busy enough time in itself, around three quarters of New Zealanders also investigate their service providers and most make significant other purchases around the same time.
The survey results showed that when people move house, around three quarters of them review at least one of their service providers such as telecommunications, energy, insurance and financial institutions. Of those who reviewed at least one provider, three quarters review their insurance provider, two thirds review their loan provider and their electricity, and 61% review their telecommunications provider. Around a quarter review their gas provider, cable or satellite TV provider, and gardening or landscaping services.
After reviewing their service providers, many people decided to switch. Of those that considered changing telecommunications, insurance, loan or electricity providers, about one third to half ended up switching. As a result 30% of people change electricity provider, just under a quarter change telecommunication and insurance provider, and 19% change loan provider.
Not everyone who considered changing providers ended up doing so. Of those who chose not to change, 61% of people said it was because they were happy with their current provider. 37% found that the alternatives were not good enough to make them want to move provider, and 14% said they did not have time to look at the alternatives.
During and after moving house there are other expenses that are incurred, apart from those actually associated with the move such as moving companies and lawyers. Over half the people who moved spent up to $7,000 on home furnishings, the same on whiteware goods, and the same on painting and decorating. One third of people spent up to $1,000 on lighting and other electrical goods after moving into their new home. Half spent up to $2,500 on gardening and landscaping, and one quarter spent up to $1,000 on bathroom and plumbing. Just over one third of people undertook kitchen renovations, and the same on other major renovations.
In a slightly surprising result, 28% of people who moved then spent money on a car, perhaps using the opportunity while restructuring their mortgage to stretch further, or using the house sale proceeds to fund the purchase.
The survey also showed that people tended to sell their existing home (57%) before buying another (43%), with 21% of respondents stating that they brought or sold privately, that is without using a real estate agent. That is in line with our own sales statistics that include all sales whether through an agent or not, and which on average show around 20% more sales than those reported by the Real Estate Institute.
