Survey to check house and material condition

This Issue This is a part of the Building materials feature

By - , Build 117

Later this year, the fourth BRANZ House Condition Survey will get underway, providing a snapshot of the state of New Zealand’s houses. This time, the aim is to expand the survey to cover rental properties and more of the country.

Is the condition of New Zealand homes getting better or worse? How much is the comfort and performance of our homes affected by poor maintenance, repairs that have been done or the lack of efficient heating and adequate insulation? How well do our building materials last? These and many other questions will be answered when BRANZ conducts its fourth national House Condition Survey.

Only survey of its kind

This comprehensive survey assesses the state of New Zealand’s housing stock and aims to raise occupants’ awareness of maintenance shortcomings and building defects. It is the only one of its kind in New Zealand.

Previous surveys were conducted in 1994, 1999 and 2005. The last two involved a representative sample of over 550 randomly selected owner-occupied houses in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. After a telephone survey with homeowners carried out by the Centre for Research Evaluation and Social Assessment (CRESA) about homeowners’ repairs and maintenance, each house was inspected.

Now includes rental properties

This year’s survey will build on the robust information gathered previously and make the survey sample even more representative of the homes in which people live. This year, the sample will aim to include rental properties. Past surveys have been restricted to the main urban areas; this year, the survey will include houses from throughout New Zealand. This will give a better coverage of different climate zones and will also include houses in rural areas and in New Zealand’s provincial towns.

‘The changes to the sample frame enable greater use of the data and will contribute to significant social, economic and resource policy development. This change was based on feedback from our stakeholders,’ says Mark Jones, BRANZ Building Performance Manager.

Unique set of data unites dwellings and households

The House Condition Survey, along with the Repairs and Maintenance Survey, is now generating a time series of data for the building and construction industry and for many government departments, health and social services agencies.

Kay Saville-Smith, Research Director for CRESA, says the House Condition Survey is an important consistent piece of research that presents a unique data set many researchers and policy-makers overseas would envy.

‘Overseas, data around dwelling quality, performance and condition tends to either be generated from modelling or focuses on the dwelling or focuses on the households that live in them. The BRANZ survey gives real data that unites dwellings and households. It has been invaluable in developing, for instance, estimates of how many dwellings need retrofitting and which population groups are most likely to be struggling to maintain or repair their homes.’

Regional comparisons of housing stock

Vicki Cowan, Knowledge and Science Manager for Beacon Pathway Ltd, agrees: ‘New Zealand needs a deep knowledge base of its housing stock over time. This is the only standardised survey looking at the condition of New Zealand homes.’

The House Condition Survey and the associated Repairs and Maintenance Survey provide a strong baseline of data nationally that can be used to compare local or regional housing stocks or the housing stock of some population groups. For instance, the condition of older people’s housing has been compared to the national baseline, as has the condition of dwellings in rural Northland, East Coast and Eastern Bay of Plenty.

‘The House Condition Survey helps frame the scale of the problem with New Zealand’s houses,’ says Vicki. ‘Ideally, over time, we would see a trend of improving conditions as we better maintain and renovate our homes to be warm and dry.’

Understanding future housing scenarios

Kay is pleased with the extension of the survey to include rental properties and a wider geographical spread.

‘In the future, significantly more households will be living in rental dwellings. In some cities, we may have 50% of the housing stock in rental in the future. We need to know how well that stock performs and how well it is maintained. If housing does not perform well, it can have real impacts on health, how people relate to each other socially, children’s educational achievement and people’s productivity. Understanding the rental stock is particularly important because projections show that New Zealand’s children will be increasingly likely to be living in rental dwellings, and children are particularly vulnerable to poor housing conditions.’

Vicki sees the additions as a powerful tool that extends on the data already collected. ‘The changes will benefit the survey immensely, both for researchers and from a consumer’s point of view. It is hoped it will lead to government and industry initiatives that support New Zealanders improving the condition of their homes.’

Previous findings show ‘hidden’ problems

Previous survey results noted New Zealanders were overly optimistic when it came to the state of their homes. The widespread misperception seems to be driven by the hidden or less visible nature of many common building defects and possibly the rapid growth in building values during recent years.

In 2005, 80% of homeowners surveyed believed their home to be in good or excellent condition, but only 50% of homes actually fell into that category.

The major defects detected were fairly consistent throughout the three surveys and included:

  • inadequate subfloor ventilation
  • deterioration of roof and wall claddings
  • deterioration of timber window frames and spouting/guttering
  • lack of earthquake restraints.

On a brighter note, there was a decline in the average cost to repair more serious house defects – $3,700 in 2005, down from $4,900 in 1999.

Ian Page, BRANZ Economics Manager, says coverage of rental properties will enable comparisons to be made between the condition of owner-occupied houses and tenanted properties. He also expects the average repair cost to increase slightly with the inclusion of rural houses.

Interviews and monitoring

Beginning mid 2010, CRESA will undertake the repairs and maintenance component of the research with householders. A randomly selected sample of householders will be asked to participate in a 15–20 minute interview.

Each sample home will then be surveyed in detail by a trained on-site assessor. BRANZ is fortunate to have Mike O’Malley, who has worked on every House Condition Survey since its inception, back on board. Mike brings with him indepth knowledge of the process, as well as extensive understanding of buildings and their issues from a practical perspective. He will be joined by Jim Bowler and others.

Opportunities to tailor reports

The survey has base funding from BRANZ from the Building Research Levy. Interested agencies and industry partners have the opportunity to contribute to the survey, and reports can then be tailored to meet their needs. Options include increasing the sample size in a specific area of interest, detailed analysis of data in key areas or comparison of sub-surveys with the base data.

For more

Anyone interested in contributing to the survey or getting tailored information should contact Mark Jones at BRANZ on (04) 237 1170 or [email protected].

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