Factors influencing home-purchase decision of buyers of different types of apartments in India

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present partial results of a survey conducted in Pune, India. Its aim is to determine the importance of factors, other than the buyer-related factors, that influence the purchase of a flat/apartment, of buyers of different types of flats/apartments. Design/methodology/approach - The author follows three hypotheses for recent buyers of three different types of flats/apartments, namely, 1 BHK, 2 BHK and 3 BHK (where 1, 2 and 3 indicate the number of bedrooms, H stands for hall and K stands for kitchen. Thus 1 BHK designates a flat/apartment with one bedroom, a hall and a kitchen). A total of 284 respondents from buildings located on the outskirts of Pune city participated in the questionnaire survey for this study. Ten factors have been considered. Findings - From this study, it is concluded that price is significantly the most important factor for buyers of 1 BHK, followed by product, and then followed by location. For 2 BHK buyers, there is no single significantly most important factor. For 3 BHK buyers, there is no single significantly most important factor and the two most important factors are product and location. Research limitations/implications - The results of this study show that buyers of different types of flats/apartments give different types of importance to the influencing factors. This study of buyer behavior will be helpful for the marketers of real estate companies, as they can identify the most important factors for various categories of buyers and implement those accordingly. Originality/value - This study is the first to analyze the importance of the influencing factors for buyers of different types of flats/apartments. Also, it is the first to analyze the home-buying behavior for flats/apartments constructed in the outskirts, where most of the new constructions are taking place. This study will be useful to all the stakeholders of the housing industry.