Houzz at REbuild: “personalisation is the key driver for requalification”

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

“The new design platforms, which we started to analyse back at REbuild 2016, are reconfiguring the way in which professionals access the market and compete for the completion of projects – stated Thomas Miorin, chairman of RE-Lab. There is no doubt that digital technologies will significantly transform the markets for the design, development and maintenance of the construction environment.”

One of these protagonists is Houzz, the world's leading online platform for furniture, interior and exterior design and renovation that annually carries out a world survey on the relationship with the home, the world's largest research on the subject. The latest "Houzz & Home" survey in particular reveals that a quarter (25%) of owners expect to start or finish the work of redevelopment in 2017 with an average spending commitment of about € 15,900 (in 2016 the investment average was € 12,800). This research shows a preference to buy a house to be restored rather than an already "pre-packaged" house; the goal is to personalise it according to your tastes and needs (49%), make it as similar as possible to how you imagine it should be (35%) and remaining in your neighbourhood (31%). The research, conducted on more than 5,700 respondents in Italy and over 185,000 globally, also reveals that those who renovate a newly purchased home spend more than the other owners (average budget of € 53,532 against € 40,301) and 51% of the cases are inclined to renovate all the interior spaces (34% for the other owners).

Other interesting facts are: recourse primarily to personal savings (78% of cases); the use of "smart" technology to improve design (63%) and functionality (58%); a search for solutions for a "healthy" home (28%); an increase in the request to professionals for help (1.5 million are part of the Community).

Link to the research here: https://info.houzz.com/rs/804-JLJ-529/images/HH2017Italy.pdf

Interview with Mattia Perroni, Managing Director of Houzz

“Italians are those who spend the most on restructuring. Personalisation is one of the key drivers in restructuring.”