The Voice Behind Choice: Understanding Key Motives that Drive Consumer Home Choice

Abstract

"Despite the huge importance of the residential real estate market to New Zealand?s economy, our knowledge of the non-calculative reasons that drive home buyers? choices is limited. This interpretive study sought to identify and understand the motives that underlie actual home choices through ZMET (Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique). This paper focuses on Step Eight of the ZMET interview process where respondents have created mental maps using constructs that have been elicited throughout the interview. It identifies twenty key motives underlying home choices, presents three of these motives in detail and discusses their implications for academics and practitioners. It then concludes with a contribution to existing housing choice literature ? that consumers? choice for a home can be driven by non-economic, non-calculative and less tangible factors."