Influence Of Lifestyle On Housing Preferences Of .

Influence of Lifestyle on Housing Preferences of Multifamily Housing ResidentsHyun-Jeong LeeDissertation submitted to the faculty of theVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityin partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYinApparel, Housing, and Resource ManagementRosemary Carucci Goss, Co-chairJulia O. Beamish, Co-chairDonna DunayKathleen ParrottKusum SinghNovember 14, 2005Blacksburg, VirginiaKeywords: Lifestyle, Housing AIO, Housing Values, Multifamily Housing, HousingPreferenceCopyright 2005, Hyun-Jeong Lee

Influence of Lifestyle on Housing Preferences of Multifamily Housing ResidentsHyun-Jeong LeeABSTRACTLifestyle is a popular concept used to understand consumers’ behaviors; however,the lifestyle concept rarely has been applied to housing studies. Although renting amultifamily dwelling is a non-normative housing choice in the United States, many peopleprefer to rent multifamily housing units for reasons other than financial.The purpose of this study is to identify the housing preferences of multifamilyhousing residents as determined by their lifestyles. The model of influences on housingchoice was used as a theoretical framework for the study.Fifty nine housing activity, interest, and opinion (AIO) statements were developedas a lifestyle measurement for this study. A total of 211 responses were collected fromresidents of nine selected apartment communities in Charlotte, N.C., through two phases ofquestionnaire surveys. The respondents were represented by young single-person or couplehouseholds with high income and college degrees or higher education.Four lifestyle factors (Well-being, Social, Spaces, and Envirotech) were derivedfrom housing interest and opinion items, and the respondents were grouped into fourlifestyle clusters (Community Cluster, Basics Cluster, Home Cluster, and EnvironmentCluster) on the basis of the lifestyle factors. The relationships between the lifestyle clustersand their housing preferences were tested and the model of influences on housing choicewas partially supported.Households in the Community Cluster had a strong downtown-orientation and theweakest perception of homeownership, and preferred to have security features. Householdsin the Basics Cluster had the weakest preferences for apartment home and communityfeatures and the second weakest perception of homeownership. Households in the HomeCluster had the strongest perception of homeownership and relatively strong feature

preferences, including preferences for upscale interior design features. Households in theEnvironment Cluster had a strong suburban-orientation and preferred to have outdoorparking spaces in front of the building, plant watering service, and an on-site car care center.The findings from this study can be applied to the design and management ofapartment communities and to marketing strategies that are sensitive to lifestyle concepts.Because of the unique sampling framework, the results from this study cannot begeneralized. Instead, it is recommended that further research studies test the housing AIOstatements with different groups in diverse markets.iii

DEDICATIONTo My Parentsiv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTFinishing my final degree at Virginia Tech was a most enjoyable and memorableexperience. Although I had some difficult moments completing my study, I could survivebecause I was blessed to receive tremendous love and support from people around me.I especially want to thank my co-advisors, Dr. Rosemary Goss and Dr. JuliaBeamish, for their sincere support and guidance. I cannot imagine myself completing mydegree without their help at every step. They are dedicated teachers, supportive advisors,and inspiring researchers. They will serve as excellent role models for me in the future.I thank Dr. Kathleen Parrott, who gave me great advice to improve my study. Also,I appreciate her encouragement that always gave me great energy to set goals and pursuethem.I thank Dr. Kusum Singh for her guidance for statistical analyses. Her classes,personal advice, and trust gave rise to my interests in quantitative studies and built myconfidence in quantitative techniques.I thank Professor Donna Dunay for her eye-opening advice for my study. Shealways guided me to see problems from different perspectives.I also thank Dr. Pamela Weaver for her class on advanced statistics, including factoranalysis and cluster analysis, which formed the most important part of my research designand data analyses.I thank Mr. Ken Szymanski, the Executive Director of the Charlotte ApartmentAssociation, for making my data collection possible, and I also thank Ms. Fran Petzold forher assistance with the sampling procedures. I thank Ms. Jennifer Traynor for providing mewith important information about Charlotte apartment properties that became a foundationof my sampling design.I thank Dr. Jae-Myung Ha, who was my advisor in my Masters’ program in Korea,for having opened my eyes to the field of housing and for having encouraged me to pursuemy doctoral degree in housing in the United States.I thank my sisters and brothers at the Korean Baptist Church at Blacksburg, for theirprayers and assistances for my life in Blacksburg. Especially, I thank Dr. Hwajung Lee, Dr.v

Jiho Han, and Hyunju Jeong for their special care and prayers. I also thank Soyoung Leeand Brandon Bailey for their constant friendship and support at the most difficult moments.I thank my family in Korea for their immeasurable love and support. I thank myfather, Dr. Kuhn-Il Lee, for being a great role model as a scholar and for having encouragedme to pursue my Ph.D. degree. I thank my mother, Mrs. Eunju Cho, for her prayers andendless care, and Chang-Hoon and Jeong-Hoon, my two brothers and the greatest futurephysicians, for their understanding and encouragement.I thank God for guiding me and abiding with me every moment I breathe and for allthat I am.vi

TABLE OF CONTENTSABSTRACT .iiDEDICATION .ivACKNOWLEDGEMENT . vTABLE OF CONTENTS .viiLIST OF TABLES. xiLIST OF FIGURES. xvCHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. 1Justification of the Study. 3Purpose and Objectives of the Study. 4Research Hypotheses. 4Significance of the Study . 4Study Area. 5Assumption of the Study . 5Delimitation of the Study . 5Definition of Terms . 6Activity, Interest, and Opinion (AIO) Statements . 6Apartment. 6Apartment Building. 6Apartment Community. 6Apartment Community Features . 6Apartment Home . 6Apartment Home Features . 6Housing AIOs. 7Housing Preferences. 7Housing Values . 7Human Values. 7Market-rate Apartment. 7Multifamily Housing. 7Multifamily Unit . 7vii

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW. 8Lifestyles . 8Definition of Lifestyle. 8Psychographics. 9Human Values. 9Activities, Interests, and Opinions (AIO) . 10Lifestyle Market Segmentation . 11Lifestyle Approaches in Other Fields . 12Lifestyle in Housing Studies . 13Multifamily Housing . 13Definition of Multifamily Housing . 13Types of Multifamily Housing. 14Demographic Profile of Multifamily Housing Residents . 17Multifamily Housing as a Housing Choice. 17Lifestyles and Multifamily Housing . 19Multifamily Housing in Neighborhood. 20Housing Preferences. 20Definition of Housing Preferences. 20Housing Preference Studies . 20Housing Preferences of Multifamily Housing Residents. 21Housing Values . 22Definition of Housing Values . 22Housing Value Studies. 23Theoretical Framework . 24Charlotte, North Carolina . 26Demographics of Mecklenburg County, N.C. . 27General Housing Profiles of Mecklenburg County, N.C. . 29Multifamily Housing in Mecklenburg County, N.C. . 30Summary . 33viii

CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY. 34Instrument Development . 34Part I: Lifestyles . 34Part II: Housing Expectations and Preferences. 35Part III: General Information . 36Pretest . 36Step 1: Review by Two Professionals and Two Non-professionals . 36Step 2: Inter-Item Reliability Test. 37Sampling Procedure . 39Step 1: Target Apartment Community Selection . 39Step 2: Random Sampling of Apartment Communities. 40Data Collection. 41Data Analyses. 44Flow of Data Analyses . 45Data Coding . 47Summary . 48CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS . 49Overview of Respondents . 49Demographic Characteristics of Respondents . 49General Housing Characteristics of Respondents . 51Lifestyle (AIO) of Respondents . 54Housing Preferences of Respondents. 55Analysis of Lifestyle Dimension. 56Lifestyle Factors: Factor Analysis . 57Lifestyle Clusters: Cluster Analysis. 61Profiling Lifestyle Clusters . 62Distribution of Lifestyle Clusters . 64Hypotheses Tests. 65Hypothesis 1. 66Hypothesis 2. 73Hypothesis 3. 75ix

Further Analyses. 88Hypothesis 4. 88Hypothesis 5. 91Hypothesis 6. 100Summary . 102CHAPTER 5. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS . 106Summary of the Study. 106Major Findings . 107General Findings . 107Lifestyle Clusters and Their Characteristics . 108Comparison of Lifestyle Clusters. 114Model of Influences on Housing Choice . 115Additional Findings. 116Implications . 118Design Implications . 118Managerial Implications. 119Limitations and Suggestions . 120Limitations . 120Suggestions . 123Summary . 124REFERENCES . 125APPENDIX A: HUMAN SUBJECT APPROVAL LETTER . 132APPENDIX B: PROPERTY MANAGER COVER LETTER. 134APPENDIX C: SAMPLE RESIDENT COVER LETTER . 136APPENDIX D: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE. 138APPENDIX E: SURVEY POSTER . 147APPENDIX F: REMINDER POSTCARD. 149APPENDIX G: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS . 151APPENDIX H: VITA . 160x

LIST OF TABLESTable 1. Population Growth of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and the United States(1960-2000) . 28Table 2. Housing Unit Increases in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and the UnitedStates (1960-2000).

Influence of Lifestyle on Housing Preferences of Multifamily Housing Residents Hyun-Jeong Lee ABSTRACT Lifestyle is a popular concept used to understand consumers’ behaviors; however, the lifestyle concept rarel