Similarly, a second study finds that in states with a relatively predominant personality type, real-estate decisions often reflect that personality. It's not just the economic and social conditions that influence home buying decisions; your personality has an upper hand too.
For the study, the researchers asked 1,138 participants to take a personality test where they had to rate themselves on a scale of 1 to 5 on Conscientiousness (organized and efficient), Openness (creative), Neuroticism (moody and tense), Extroversion (energetic and sociable) and Agreeableness (undemanding, agreeable).
These respondents were then asked to answer five real-estate based questions like the duration and type of mortgage they preferred, if they would rather rent or buy and if they would rather invest in real estate or stocks.
They matched the personality types to the real estate questions and found the people who score above average on:
- Conscientiousness - preferred fixed mortgage rates
- Openness - preferred lower loan-to-value mortgages
- Neuroticism - Preferred to own a home or buy rather than to rent
- Extroversion/Agreeableness - Would rather invest in real estate than in stocks.
But the researchers noted that this is not the ultimate guide to real estate and personality, adding that individuality plays a more important role when it comes to property decisions
Of late, several researches have been linking housing/real estate to health and personality. There was this study that proved how children influenced property decisions of parents. A research also highlighted a trend of how Indians preferred investing in real estate rather than in gold or stocks.