Choosing a House: The Effect of Cost Constraints on Single-Family House Design and Construction

In this study, Rapoport's concept of choice and game theory was used in order to understand the trade-offs home buyers make when choosing an affordable house. Cost is a constraint on a home buyer's choices. When people have constraints on their choices, what is most critical is what they eliminate and in what order. The attributes eliminated first are the least important to buyers; the attributes that are present in all new houses, including the least expensive, are the most important. Fifty model houses featured in The Milwaukee Journal over an eighteen-month period were analyzed. The objective was to learn how the more expensive houses differ from the less expensive houses. Size is the most important predictor of cost but even the least expensive houses are like all the others in that they have three bedrooms, one larger than the other two; two bathrooms, one with a special relationship to the bigger bedroom; two separate eating areas and a two-car garage. They are unlike the other houses in that they do not have a separate living room and family room, a fireplace, dormers and bay windows, natural materials on the exterior, elaborate plumbing fixtures such as a whirlpool bath, and extra storage space in the garage. These findings have significance for the planning and design of affordable housing because they indicate what is most important to the home buyer.