_And the survey says!_

There are a lot of surveys available to the consumer these days. For the record, how come it is so difficult for the average consumer to find the actual survey? Usually these surveys are only available as a press release and are reported by a news outlet.

Why is that?

Honestly, I have yet to find or see these surveys in the full original format. If anyone knows how to find them, please share.

The results are usually interesting. Its just that I like to look at the surveys with summary data more closely to be assured that they have reasonable methodologies and nothing stands out as misleading.

Here’s a recap of the most recent surveys of the past week – (reader beware – its mainly happy news):

* [ING Direct Annual Homeowner’s Survey](http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060602005057&newsLang=en) – Synovate, a global research firm, completed the survey for them. The highlight was that 74% of Americans are not concerned about a possible housing downturn next year. This comment on the blog [Lanser on Real Estate](http://blogs.ocregister.com/lansner/archives/2006/06/owners_dont_see_housing_downtu_1.html): _If you polled American newlyweds about whether or not they would get a divorce sometime in the future…the numbers would be quite low. Yet about 50% of all marriages end in divorce…go figure._

* [Runzheimer International’s Priciest US Cities Survey](http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/18/real_estate/buying_selling/most_expensive_places/index.htm) considers _what a typical family of four earning $60,000 annually spends and compared the costs of maintaining that lifestyle in more than 300 U.S. locations of comparable quality. In Manhattan, that family would need to spend $146,060, 137.9 percent more than in the average American town. This slice of the Big Apple topped runner-up San Francisco by more than $24,000 to earn the dubious distinction of being the nation’s priciest place._

* [2006 U.S. Trust Survey of Affluent Americans](http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/05/pf/affluent_attitudes/?cnn=yes) _Faith in the real estate market, however, was weak: Only 48 percent said they expect real estate’s value to increase in the next year, down from 72 percent who thought it would in last year’s survey. Thirty-three percent of respondents expect real estate values to decline over the next year. That number is up from 14 percent who thought that last year._

One Comment

  1. John K June 7, 2006 at 9:43 am

    Hmm.

    I think if you surveyed 100 people, more than half would tell you they never read surveys.

Comments are closed.