August 07 2017
Century 21 Ranks Highest among First-Time Home Buyers and Sellers for Fourth Consecutive Year
COSTA MESA, Calif., Aug. 1, 2017 — Realtors who invest time and effort in their relationship with home buyers and those who effectively market on behalf of sellers earn the highest levels of customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power 2017 Home Buyer/Seller Satisfaction Study, released today.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), current home sales reflect the best quarterly existing sales pace in a decade and are poised to climb 3.5% in 2017,1 a strong indicator that now is the time to capitalize on the market, especially with first-time buyers.
The study, now in its 10th year, measures satisfaction with the nation's largest real estate companies among customers in four segments: first-time buyers; repeat buyers; first-time sellers; and repeat sellers. Overall satisfaction is measured across four factors of the home-buying experience: agent/salesperson; real estate office; closing process; and variety of additional services. In the home-selling experience, the same four factors are evaluated plus a fifth factor, marketing. Satisfaction is measured on a 1,000-point scale.
"With the real estate market remaining strong, it is more important than ever that agents, buyers and sellers focus on the trade basics, especially for first-timers," said Greg Truex,senior director of the at-home practice at J.D. Power. "When agents remain transparent, informative and responsive, they can greatly impact customer satisfaction and increase agent reputation and recommendations."
Following are some key findings of the study:
Century 21 (867) ranks highest for a fourth consecutive year and performs particularly well in the agent/salesperson, closing process and variety of additional services factors. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices (862) ranks second and performs particularly well in the real estate office factor.
Keller Williams (863) ranks highest and performs particularly well in the closing process, real estate office and variety of additional services factors. Coldwell Banker (857) ranks second.
Century 21 (859) ranks highest for a fourth consecutive year and performs particularly well in all five factors in the segment.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices (858) ranks highest and performs particularly well in the agent/salesperson, marketing and closing process factors. Century 21 (846) ranks second and performs particularly well in variety of additional services.
The 2017 Home Buyer/Seller Satisfaction Study includes 5,117 evaluations from 4,170 customers who bought and/or sold a home between March 2016 and April 2017. The study was fielded in March-April 2017.
For more information about the J.D. Power Home Buyer/Seller Satisfaction Study, click here.
J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices serving North/South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. J.D. Power is a portfolio company of XIO Group, a global alternative investments and private equity firm headquartered in London, and is led by its four founders: Athene Li, Joseph Pacini, Murphy Qiao and Carsten Geyer.