The French in search of their accommodation: between priorities, compromises and unpleasant surprises

The QUALITEL Association has thus decided to devote the 6th edition* of its annual barometer to the search and selection of accommodation, before, during and after: what essential criteria at the start, what compromises finally conceded, what [bad] surprises to the arrival...

Focus on the main feedback expressed by buyers who have changed accommodation for less than 5 years (full study available here).

House or apartment, city or countryside...: the ideal accommodation, starting out

At the very beginning of their research journey, future buyers were considering:

• A house, for 58% of respondents, vs 38% preferring an apartment;
• In urban areas, for 61%, vs 30% preferring the countryside;
• In the old, for 48%, vs 26% preferring to buy new.

But beyond this ideal, certain essential criteria could not have been the subject of any compromise, starting with the price and the presence of an outdoor space, cited by 59% of those questioned, followed by the type of accommodation, house or apartment, cited by 56%.

Priorities that vary according to the property purchased:

Who says housing... says car:

For 47% of French people, owners who have bought in the last 5 years, parking was an essential criterion when looking for their accommodation.

On the other hand, for a house as for an apartment, the surface area is cited as an essential criterion by only 35% of respondents. And in apartments, the number of rooms even takes precedence over space.

The adaptability of housing to the elderly or people with reduced mobility is cited as an essential criterion by only 12% of respondents (18% of those aged 60 and over). However, 59% of buyers surveyed said they had “bought [their] home to stay there all [their] life”.

* Survey carried out in April 2022, among 3.056 people, including 1.664 who have changed accommodation in the last 5 years. The figures presented in this press release relate only to owners who changed housing less than 5 years ago.

After the dream...: the reality of research

Once the ideal accommodation has been defined, it is a question of finding it. This is when things get complicated.

The search process is often under pressure, buyers having to face strong competition. Decision-making can be stressful, especially for young people under 35, who are often first-time buyers.

Decision-making is also very fast:

• 84% of buyers visited the property once or twice before making an offer;
• However, 25% would have liked to be able to visit it again before making their decision;
• 89% of buyers made their offer in less than a week.

And the visits are not necessarily sufficiently advanced. Thus, for example, many criteria, on which the quality of life in the accommodation depends, have not been systematically looked at: date of construction, level of security, class of the DPE, ventilation, etc. However, buyers have been particularly attentive to certain criteria, starting with the glazing and the general condition of the windows, cited by 88% of respondents, the surface area of ​​the rooms (87%), their organization and layout, the condition of the walls (presence of cracks or mold), the type of heating (individual or collective), etc., all cited by 86% of respondents.

Finally, at the time of choice, 78% of buyers had to make compromises. And in this case, even the most essential or important criteria at the start of the search may be affected. On your mind :

• The price, for 18% of buyers, with a purchase price on average 12% higher than the initial budget envisaged;
• The area of ​​certain rooms, for 17% of buyers, with a loss on the overall area of ​​16% on average of the number of m² envisaged at the start.

On arrival: unpleasant surprises for a majority of owners surveyed

More than 2/3 of the owners declare having had at least one bad surprise once installed: 68% say they are bothered by aspects that they had not noticed during the visits. In top 5:

• The cold in winter, for 17%;
• Noise from neighbours, for 16%;
• Heat in summer, for 13%;
• Street noise, for 12%;
• Charges, expenses, for 11%.

Unpleasant surprises that can lead to unforeseen work: if the majority of owners had clearly identified essential work before the purchase (56%), more than half (52%) also discovered some after the purchase.

Overall, 66% of respondents carried out embellishment work (paint, coatings, etc.), 45% the complete repair of one or more rooms, 34% the repair or replacement of equipment, etc.

These unpleasant surprises are not without consequences:

• Perceived quality: while the Qualiscore** is 6,8/10 overall, for all people who bought their home less than 5 years ago, it is only 6 for those who had 3 bad surprises or more ;
• The time spent in the accommodation: 44% of owners wish to change it, including 28% in the short or medium term. A figure that rises to 61% for those who have had many bad surprises.

And yet, some of these bad surprises could have been avoided with more attention during the visits. So for example:

• 45% of the owners who had unpleasant surprises on the charges had not been attentive to the class of the DPE;
• 32% of the owners who had unpleasant surprises on the acoustic insulation had not been attentive to the noise pollution.

Finally, if it were to be done again, for a future purchase, almost half of the owners (47%) would like to be accompanied by a building professional during visits to assess the condition of the property. This trend is even more true for owners who had several bad surprises and for those who had to carry out unforeseen work (55%).

All study results here.