Hard truths about our houses

This Issue This is a part of the Existing houses feature

By - , Build 147

BRANZ surveys of New Zealand houses over the past 12 years show that, whether it’s a rental or owner-occupied, the condition of many of our properties is below par.

Figure 1: Assessed overall condition of houses in the 2010 House Condition Survey.
Figure 2: Occupant-perceived condition versus BRANZ-assessed condition.
Figure 3: Exterior and envelope components in poor condition.
Figure 4: Interior components in poor condition.

THE BRANZ HOUSE CONDITION SURVEY has given us valuable snapshots of New Zealand’s housing stock every 5 years since 1992.

Work is under way on the 2015 BRANZ House Condition Survey, with areas to be visited and the items to be inspected nearly finalised. Here, we summarise the key learnings from the 2010 survey, particularly for rentals.

Survey has a wide reach

In each House Condition Survey, a group of houses and their occupants are investigated that broadly represent the designs, ages and varying conditions of New Zealand’s houses.

Previous surveys were carried out in 1994, 1999 and 2005, predominantly on owner-occupied houses in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The 2010 House Condition Survey was the first survey that was nationwide and included rental properties.

The growing number of completed surveys, and identified trends and problems, provides us with a reliable information base from which to make comparisons.

Back to top

Rentals in worse condition

A subjective overall condition assessment was made for each dwelling by assessors. This was based on a 3-point scale (see Build 124, pages 58–59).

The assessed condition of owner-occupied houses was higher than that of rented houses (see Figure 1):

● Owner-occupied houses were nearly twice as likely to be in good condition as rented houses.

● Nearly twice as many rented houses than owner-occupied houses were in poor condition.

Figure 1: Assessed overall condition of houses in the 2010 House Condition Survey.

Back to top

Perception doesn’t meet reality

For both rental and owner-occupied properties, householders perceived the condition of the property to be significantly better than the BRANZ assessors did (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Occupant-perceived condition versus BRANZ-assessed condition.

Owner-occupier focus on cosmetic

Owner-occupiers tend to be overly optimistic about the condition of their homes – over 70% believe that their home is in good or excellent condition when BRANZ assessors put only 42% into this category.

This disparity between perception and assessment may be influenced by a primary focus on cosmetic appearance.

The fact that the overall condition of the interiors across the sample tend to be slightly higher than the exterior backs this up. Less visible things seem to be considered of lower importance or not considered at all.

Occupants optimistic about rentals

For rental properties, approximately 80% of the occupants considered the property to be in good condition, and only 2% believed their home to be in poor condition.

In contrast, the assessments made by the BRANZ inspectors showed that only 22% of rental properties were in good condition and 44% in poor condition. Possible reasons are that those renting:

● are more optimistic about the condition of the home they are residing in

● have lower expectations surrounding the condition of the home

● are less critical about the state of the home than owner-occupiers because the upkeep of the home is not their responsibility

● have a higher tolerance for poor conditions or accept lesser conditions as the norm.

Back to top

Areas needing attention identified

The condition ratings section of the House Condition Survey rates components based on a 5-point scale (see Table 1).

Table 1
House Condition Survey component condition rating scale

CONDITIONDESCRIPTIONRATING
Serious Health and safety implications. Needs immediate attention. 1
Poor Needs attention shortly – within the next 3 months. 2
Moderate Will need attention within the next 2 years. 3
Good Very few defects. Near new condition. 4
Excellent No defects. As new condition. 5

Exterior components

More rentals had exterior and envelope components in poor condition (needing attention soon – see Figure 3) or serious condition (needing immediate attention) than owner-occupied houses:

● Gutters, windows and floor were far more likely to require immediate attention in rentals.

● Roofs, windows and doors of rental properties were more likely to be in need of repair in the near future than in owner-occupied houses.

Interestingly, owner-occupied houses were more than twice as likely to have blocked subfloor vents needing attention immediately or in the short term than rentals. This is probably a result of more extensive planting and site development for owner-occupied properties.

Unsurprisingly, both types of properties had more components needing attention in the short term rather than immediately.

Figure 3: Exterior and envelope components in poor condition.

Interior components

Rental properties had far more interior components in poor condition (see Figure 4). Linings and internal doors stand out as being in serious or poor condition, compared to owner-occupied homes.

However, owner-occupied houses were more likely to have kitchen fittings and linings in need of immediate repair.

A significant number of cookers in rental properties need immediate attention, and in these properties, cookers are more likely to be dangerously sited.

Predictably, properties of both tenures had a higher incidence of interior components needing attention in the short term rather than immediately.

Figure 4: Interior components in poor condition.

Back to top

Rosy view may cause poor upkeep

As a whole, the BRANZ House Condition Survey series demonstrates that New Zealand’s housing stock requires a significant amount of maintenance to return properties to average condition.

Previous Build articles have shown that this lack of maintenance is likely to be the result of occupants being overly optimistic about the condition of their homes.

These latest results show that this optimism is not dulled even when the more obvious interior areas, particularly those of rental properties, are in poor condition.

It appears that occupants are not able to realistically assess the condition of their properties and so fail to ensure that their dwellings are adequately maintained.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues in the 2015 BRANZ House Condition Survey.

Back to top

For more

Previous Build articles on the House Condition Survey can be found at www.buildmagazine.org.nz – enter ‘house condition survey’ in the search box.

Download the PDF

More articles about these topics

Articles are correct at the time of publication but may have since become outdated.

Figure 1: Assessed overall condition of houses in the 2010 House Condition Survey.
Figure 2: Occupant-perceived condition versus BRANZ-assessed condition.
Figure 3: Exterior and envelope components in poor condition.
Figure 4: Interior components in poor condition.

Advertisement

Advertisement