Property buyers 'using up to five research tools'

A new report released by Nielsen today has found that New Zealanders are using up to five different tools in their research for property as competition heats up across the country. Nielsen’s 2015 Real Estate Report found that 337,000 people are planning to purchase or sell a house/flat in the next 12 months, up from 316,000 last year. The report, which asked 1,210 property researchers about their habits in the lead up to buying or selling, found the average price being sought by sellers nationally has gone up by 10 per cent since 2014, to $569,425. The report also found that on average, property researchers use at least five resources to support their decision-making (see: Chart 1). Websites are by far the leading resource, with 83 per cent of consumers saying they use digital resources for prospecting. Despite this, traditional resources are also used, with more than half using specialist real estate magazines, company real estate magazines and real estate office displays and brochures. For sale signs, local newspapers and talking to friends and family are also popular. For online researchers, Trade Me Property leads the market, with 86 per cent having used the website for information. Realestate.co.nz was second with 52 per cent and Harcourts was the biggest agency site, with half visiting their site (see: Chart 2). On average though, consumers are visiting more than five websites to support their decision making. Tony Boyte, Research Director at Nielsen, said: "With competition heating up, property buyers are taking advantage of the number of options available to research their ideal piece of real estate. Researching real estate in today’s world is about spending hours on the internet every week, as well as reading real estate magazines, flicking through brochures, looking at for sale signs and billboards, and browsing real estate company window displays," said Boyte. Researchers now have the convenience of using mobile devices as well when they want further information on a property they have just seen for sale on the street, or just before going to an open home. More than a third (35%) of real estate researchers have accessed a real estate website via a mobile device, and 17% make use of property apps. Boyte concluded: "With website research heading towards saturation, there is huge opportunity in mobile to provide consumers with timely and personalised information straight to their phone. But there is also a place for more traditional methods for these high value investments. The real objective for consumers is to learn as much as possible before they make their decision, so providing services to help them along their journey must be top of mind for the real estate industry."