Homebuilding Exec: Wellness Concerns Could Drive Consumers To Buy New Homes

Health is driving consumer decisioning, with the chief executive of one homebuilder noting that wellness – along with the need for more space, historically low interest rates and the reality of people moving out of cities – is serving as a motivator for homebuyers.

“The thing that I think has been probably most interesting is this need for wellness,” Taylor Morrison CEO Sheryl Palmer said in a televised interview. She also pointed out that the virtual interaction the company is having with consumers “continues to evolve.”

When asked about their choice to shop at merchants with digital capabilities, 40.2 percent of consumers cited the reason “I might contract COVID-19 without access to these capabilities,” per PYMNTS data.

And 71.7 percent of consumers were feeling apprehensive about the COVID-19 pandemic because they were concerned that they might get their friends or family sick. More than four in 10 respondents – or 42.4 percent – were afraid they might die, per PYMNTS data.

These fears are keeping some consumers at home. As PYMNTS notes in “How A Global Pandemic Created a Digital-First Customer in 12 Weeks”, “the lion’s share of consumers reported that a vaccine for the virus is what would get them back out into the world.

The success or failure of any digital platform is its ability to take friction away, and success going forward will be defined how companies manage the Digital 3.0 FIT^® Framework: the ability to remove friction and provide consumers with the encouragement to move past the inertia that once kept them from trying something new. That leads to preserving their second-most valuable asset next to their health: their time.

Amid health concerns during the pandemic and digital innovation from homebuilders, consumers could possibly be encouraged to try something new – like buying a new house because of health and wellness and/or interact with homebuilders virtually instead of in person.

Palmer describes her economic outlook as “cautiously optimistic,” but she noted that “I think we will continue to see … strong demand for new homes – for fresh, healthy living.”