Homebuyers want affordable and walkable communities that offer shopping and other leisure activities when purchasing a new home, a Homes.com survey has found.
For its New Construction: What Buyers Want Survey, Homes.com partnered with YouGov in May to poll more than 1,000 people aged 25-plus who have incomes of at least $50,000 and either purchased a new home in the past two years or plan to buy a newly built property in the next two. See the full methodology.
Buyers prioritize easy access to amenities
About seven in 10 recent or prospective new-home buyers prefer urban and suburban communities to exurban and rural locales. While affordability ranks as the top priority for first-time and repeat buyers, nearly six in 10 respondents said living in a walkable neighborhood with access to retail and activities was very or extremely important.
Builders are responding to these preferences by rethinking where — and how — they develop communities.
Scottsdale-based Camelot Homes, a custom builder, told Homes.com that it prioritizes easy access to amenities like golf courses, specialty grocery stores, top restaurants and shopping destinations to meet buyer demands.
"We call it being at the intersection of 'Main and Main'," Leela Smith, Camelot's director of sales, told Homes.com.
The "Main and Main" approach from builders means selecting locations with built-in community amenities within a short drive of a resident's front door.
With growing housing inventory, buyers can be picky with their location preferences, which can be as pressing as their commute time to work or as innocuous as the neighborhood coffee shop, said Kristy DeWitz, an agent with My Home Group, who specializes in Phoenix's East Valley neighborhoods.
"'A big pressure point I'm seeing is convenience," DeWitz said.
In the survey, 48% of respondents found a large lot was either extremely important or very important. The survey also indicated that younger families are leaning toward suburban areas with good schools and parks. First-time homebuyers, who in our survey skewed young, seek urban locations or suburbs that have shorter commutes to work and access to leisure activities. According to Homes.com, 50% of the communities built today are in a school district with a Niche.com grade of A or A+.
"Post-pandemic, more buyers are prioritizing suburban locations due to larger lot sizes, home office needs and affordability," Smith said. "Younger professionals and downsizers still show demand for urban areas with walkability and lifestyle amenities."
But Taylor Morrison, another Scottsdale-based builder, told Homes.com that it has a variety of options for different buyers, from first-timers to customers looking for luxury.
"Some entry-level buyers may be willing to sacrifice location in order to achieve the home size needed for their families," Erik Heuser, chief corporate operations officer at Taylor Morrison, wrote in a statement to Homes.com.
Builders seek good schools, job options, and more
Taylor Morrison starts its community development process by ranking its submarket. Those that have good schools, proximity to employment, transportation corridors and amenities are the ones that emerge as "prospective land acquisition opportunities" as Taylor Morrison establishes its business plan for the coming years.
"Some things as simple as walking paths can rank quite highly as we engage with prospective buyers in planning our sites," said Heuser.
In Buckeye, Arizona, a fast-growing city west of Phoenix, Howard Hughes Corp. is building its own "Main and Main" — its first residential village within a 37,000-acre master-planned community called Teravalis. The initial foundation for its first neighborhoods is being poured, with the first residents slated to move in by year's end.
While homebuilders construct the first residences, Howard Hughes is developing community amenities and pursuing retail and commercial services.
Charley Freericks, Howard Hughes' president of the Phoenix region, told Homes.com that he thinks he can bring both residents and jobs in the form of medical office development. Health care workers, especially, will want a home close to the office; an hour-plus commute after a grueling shift can be a non-starter.
But it's not just medical workers. The Homes.com survey found that the commute to work was very or extremely important to 43% of the respondents.
Affordability still trumps most decisions
National builders reported buyer incentives were up in second-quarter earnings calls as a way to combat high prices and consumer uncertainty. Danny Kallay, an agent with Compass who represents builders like Ashton Woods and Starlight Homes, told Homes.com that buyers are looking for the best deal, which can be costly for the builder but can push a deal to the finish line.
"You have buyers going back and forth between home loans, who's going to give them the best interest rate?" he said. "Today's buyers are less neighborhood-focused, and they're more payment-driven. That's just my opinion."
The Homes.com survey found 89% of respondents felt total costs and fees were extremely important or very important.