Newsroom

OFT to survey owners of new homes

146/07    24 October 2007

One thousand new-build home owners will shortly be invited to take part in a survey by the OFT offering them the opportunity to contribute to its home building market study.

The study, which was announced in June 2007, is looking at potential competition and consumer concerns within the private home building market. Home owners who take part in the survey will be asked about their experiences of purchasing and living in their new home. They will be asked how satisfied they are with the quality and range of properties available as well as the adequacy of redress if something goes wrong.

The OFT has commissioned Marketing Sciences, a market research company, to conduct one thousand interviews. These will represent a cross section of properties purchased in Great Britain in the last two years, including houses, flats and bungalows. Home owners will be interviewed by a researcher at their home.

In addition, the OFT will also conduct surveys of builders and local authority planners in the coming months as part of the evidence gathering stage of the study.

Heather Clayton, OFT Senior Director of Markets and Projects, said:

'For many people, buying a house is the largest purchase they will ever make and the study will look for ways to improve the experience of buying a new home as well as the range and quality of new homes available and the after sales service offered. We would encourage everyone who is contacted to take part.'

NOTES

1. The OFT launched a market study into the Home Building industry in June 2007 and will publish its findings by summer 2008. See press release 90/07.

2. The gathering of information in market studies is undertaken by the OFT under section 5 of the Enterprise Act 2002. Possible outcomes of a market study include: giving the market a clean bill of health; publishing information to help consumers; encouraging firms to take voluntary action; encouraging an industry code of practice; making recommendations to the Government or sector regulators; investigation and enforcement action against companies suspected of breaching consumer or competition law; a market investigation reference to the Competition Commission.

3. The Barker Review of Housing Supply 2004, which was set up to look at the reasons for the lack of supply and low responsiveness of housing in the UK, called on the industry to increase levels of customer satisfaction and to introduce a code of conduct. It said that if they did not rise substantially in the next three years, the OFT should conduct a wide-ranging review of the market. The OFT believes the industry has not fully complied with this recommendation.

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