Preferences for housing attributes in Saudi Arabia: A comparison between consumers' and property practitioners' views

Abstract

Due to rapid urbanisation, population growth and limited supply of housing, the housing sector in Saudi Arabia is facing significant challenges. There have been attempts to provide largescale housing projects to combat this issue. However, there are concerns that short-term policies to provide large quantities of housing can result in low-quality units which are underside by consumers. Therefore, understanding consumer preferences with regard to housing is crucially important if housing projects are to be successful in the long term. This paper explores consumer preferences for housing attributes in Saudi Arabia and compares these against the views of property professionals. Data was gathered via quantitative surveys from 752 housing consumers and 101 property practitioners from across Saudi Arabia. Descriptive analysis and the Mann-Whitney U test are used to determine the mean importance of the housing attributes and to compare the findings from each group. The results of the study provide an analysis on the importance of various housing attributes and highlights similarities and disparities in opinions. The analysis found significant differences between consumers' and property practitioners' views on what consumers believe are important housing attributes. Given this lack of alignment, the findings should offer housing providers with a better understanding of consumer preferences in the Saudi Arabia context.

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