Homeowners’ priorities in residential building renovation: The role of demographic and socioeconomic factors

Understanding the preferences of homeowners from diverse demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds is critical to decision-making in residential building renovations. However, this area has received limited attention in prior research. To address this gap, this study employed a multi-stage methodology. First, a systematic literature review combined with expert interviews identified 33 housing renovation performance indicators potentially concerned by homeowners. Then, a questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect data on homeowners’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and their perceived importance of the indicators. The collected data were analyzed using mean ranking analysis, intraclass correlation coefficient and the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by post-hoc Dunn’s test. The findings reveal that, overall, the mean importance ratings of the performance indicators are consistent across different demographic and socioeconomic subgroups, and “building lifespan” was rated by most groups as the most important indicator. Nevertheless, significant variations in the perceived importance of several indicators existed among different subgroups: men prioritize prestige and status more than women; the elderly place greater importance on both indoor natural daylighting and public lighting; homeowners with secondary education levels show stronger preferences for acoustic comfort than less-educated counterparts; lower-income residents value green and social spaces more; small families are more concerned with residential density; and homeowners with shorter residence care more about fire safety. The underlying reasons for these variations were further examined through in-depth interviews, and practical implications for renovation strategies were identified. The study concludes by beaconing future research directions to further improve decision-making for ageing residential building renovation.