According to the research, 61.1 percent of those polled opted to buy new homes; 27.8 to purchase pre-owned residences and 11.1 percent reported that they had not made any decision yet.

The reasons most often cited by those preferring new homes over pre-owned residences included uncertainty about quality (48.7 percent), higher costs of renovation (31.4 percent), superstition (11.9 percent) and other reasons (8 percent), as well as the unattractive design of older homes, personal preferences for new homes and prices that did not markedly differ from those of newly built residences.

The research centre conducted a survey entitled "Attitudes and Behaviour Towards Buying Pre-owned Homes", focusing on those intent upon buying homes for private residence.

The poll does not include purchases of pre-owned residences or assets for business purposes, prevalent in the central business district, where vacant land is scarce. The survey was conducted on October 10-26, using a sampling group of 635 career people in Bangkok.

Based on the poll, the first and foremost reason mentioned by most respondents when deciding on buying a pre-owned home was the condition of the premises, mentioned by 22.5 percent of those polled. This may be because they had to take into account additional costs for renovation.

The findings also showed that prices came in second as criteria for a pre-owned home purchase, quoted by 19.8 per cent of these respondents.

Most thought that pre-owned homes were less costly than newly built ones.

Third was location, accounting for 17.3 per cent of those surveyed. Other factors influencing respondents' decisions on buying pre-owned homes included the surrounding environment of the residential area, cited by 16.8 per cent; design of the residence, by 11.1 per cent; seller's credibility, 7.2 per cent; and tax incentives/real-estate fees, 5.3 per cent.