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JD Power Offers View of Real Estate Market
In the US, JD Power and Associates has conducted its first syndicated study of customer satisfaction in the real estate industry.
The firm's 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study surveyed more than 3,200 people who bought or sold their home between April 2007 and June 2008. Four factors were considered in overall satisfaction of those selling a home: agent, marketing, office, and services.
Only large brokerages were included in the national study, as a minimum of 100 consumer evaluations was required to conduct the statistical regressions analyzing the factors driving customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction benchmarks are also included in the report, to help brokers rate themselves against the competition.
Results showed that it took sellers an average of six months to close a deal, and that 23% of sellers had listed their home with another agent before having success with the broker evaluated. On a 1,000-point scale, satisfaction averaged 794 when customers sold their homes in five months or less, but declined to an average of 730 when the process took seven months or longer.
Despite the popularity of home-buying and -selling resources on the Internet, the study revealed that good service offered by estate agents themselves is the key driver of customer satisfaction with real estate firms.
JD Power and Associates recently acquired Umbria, a consumer market research company that analyzes intelligence gathered from social and consumer-generated media.
Headquartered in Westlake Village, California, the firm is online at www.jdpower.com .
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