According to the latest What Home Buyers Really Want Study*, home buyers have rather diverse preferences when it comes to the architectural style of their home. In fact, there is no national consensus on exterior design. At best, a plurality of 34% would prefer to purchase a ‘traditional’ home (rooted in historic styles), while a smaller 26% would rather buy a ‘contemporary’ home (clean lines, sloped roofs, expansive windows). Far smaller shares of 17% and 12% of buyers, respectively, would choose a ‘modern’ home (bold, boxy, flat roofs) or a ‘transitional’ home (contemporary design with traditional cues) (Fig. 1).
Like exterior design, buyers also have divergent preferences for the material used to frame the home. A plurality of 37% would like wood, 25% concrete, and 23% steel to be the framing material on their home (Fig. 2). Importantly, the 48% who preferred concrete or steel did so despite the explicit notice that those choices would involve $15,000 to $35,000 in additional costs.
This is an important finding, given than over 90% of new homes built in the United States use wood framing. It provides builders an opportunity to explore diversification into non-lumber alternatives, especially as the U.S. Commerce department is poised to increase tariffs on Canadian lumber from 8% to 14% in 2024.
* What Home Buyers Really Want, 2024 Edition sheds light on the housing preferences of the typical home buyer and is based on a national survey of more than 3,000 recent and prospective home buyers. Because of the inherent diversity in buyer backgrounds, the study provides granular specificity based on demographic factors such as generation, geographic location, race/ethnicity, income, and price point.
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