Housing gets lowest score in CityU consumer index

 

Consumer satisfaction with housing and related products and services in Hong Kong remains the lowest of the daily life categories assessed in a survey conducted by the Department of Management Sciences at City University of Hong Kong (CityU).

The CityU-Hong Kong Consumer Satisfaction Index (CityU-HKCSI), an example of the University’s community-oriented research, assesses the quality of local products and services and is intended as an indicator of business performance in Hong Kong.

The index uses a scale of 0 to 100 to represent consumer satisfaction with 68 products and services, which are divided into six categories: Clothing & Personal Care; Food & Drinks; Housing & Related Items; Transport; Information & Entertainment; and Non-Consumer Price Index (Non-CPI) Items. These categories account for more than 75% of products, by assigned weight, in the Hong Kong composite Consumer Price Index.

Overall consumer satisfaction in 2010 was 69.9, the same level as in 2009. Consumer satisfaction towards Housing & Related Items recorded the highest increase (0.6%), but it remained the lowest scoring category, at 68.0. Within this sub-category, satisfaction with private house rentals was the lowest, at 66.6. Consumer satisfaction with Information & Entertainment rose 0.1%, while satisfaction with the other four categories dropped slightly, from -0.4% to -1.1%.

Hong Kong consumers were most satisfied with Transport (72.5), followed by Clothing & Personal Care (72.0), Information & Entertainment (71.5), and then with Food & Drink (70.2) and Non-CPI Items (70.1).

“Consumer sentiment is affected by people’s confidence in the economy. The Hong Kong economy has remained stable for the past two years and so overall consumer satisfaction has not changed,” said Dr Geoffrey Tso Kwok-fai, Associate Professor in the Department of Management Sciences.

“Low satisfaction levels with housing and related products and services are probably due to high rents in the private housing sector,” he added.

Of the 68 individual goods and services covered in the index, consumers were most satisfied with music CDs (80.7), the postal service (79.3), refrigerators (79.0), broadcasting/radio stations (77.9) and motor vehicles (77.8). Music CDs have occupied one of the top two positions since 2005.

The lowest satisfaction levels were reported for job-seeking magazines (61.2), shopping in Shenzhen (61.7), tunnels (64.0) and internet service providers and real estate agents (64.9). Job-seeking websites were written off from the worst 10 performers’ list due to a noticeable increase of 3.1% in satisfaction levels last year.

International telephone services and washing machines registered the greatest improvement (3.6%) in consumer satisfaction. In contrast, furniture witnessed the biggest drop in consumer satisfaction (-4.9%).

CityU has been measuring consumer satisfaction for over a decade, offering a valuable reference for the business sector, particularly for those providing consumer goods and services.

To compile the data for the index, more than 170,000 computer-assisted telephone interviews have been conducted since 1997. For the 2010 survey, 13,152 interviews were carried out from 29 June to 8 August last year.

Attachment: CityU-Hong Kong Consumer Satisfaction Index results (2007-2010)

Media enquiries:

Dr Geoffrey Tso, Associate Professor, Department of Management Sciences, CityU (3442 8568 or 9020 9996)

Michelle Leung, Communications and Public Relations Office, CityU (3442 6827 or 9050 7507).

15 March 2011

Category

Product

CSI Scores

Change Rates

2007

2008

2009

2010

2007~08

2008~09

2009~10

everyday clothes: chain stores

71.1

71.1

71.9

71.5

0.1%

1.0%

-0.5%

leather shoes

73.4

73.6

73.2

73.5

0.2%

-0.5%

0.4%

sports shoes

74.6

74.6

75.5

73.7

0.0%

1.3%

-2.4%

make-up & skin-care products

73.6

73.3

75.4

72.1

-0.5%

2.9%

-4.4%

Clothing &

jewellery

76.2

76.6

76.3

77.2

0.5%

-0.4%

1.1%

Personal Care

hospitals: inpatient departments

75.7

73.5

71.5

72.8

-2.9%

-2.7%

1.9%

proprietary medicines & supplies

74.9

76.7

73.6

74.0

2.5%

-4.1%

0.6%

health food

69.5

70.9

72.3

71.4

2.0%

2.0%

-1.2%

gym & slimming centres

67.1

68.8

66.8

67.2

2.6%

-2.9%

0.5%

municipal sports centres

73.1

69.6

72.6

71.1

-4.8%

4.3%

-2.0%

Sub-HKCSI

72.3

72.4

72.8

72.0

0.2%

0.6%

-1.1%

fast food shops & cafes

67.9

68.3

67.9

67.0

0.6%

-0.5%

-1.4%

Chinese & Western restaurants

69.1

70.3

70.2

71.3

1.7%

-0.1%

1.6%

rice

74.9

76.5

76.7

76.2

2.2%

0.2%

-0.6%

bread, cakes & puddings

72.5

71.8

73.9

72.0

-1.0%

3.0%

-2.6%

fish and fresh sea products

70.6

70.5

73.1

71.1

-0.2%

3.6%

-2.7%

Food & Drink

fresh meat

74.8

72.7

75.8

73.1

-2.8%

4.3%

-3.6%

fresh fruits

70.4

69.3

71.3

70.9

-1.5%

3.0%

-0.6%

edible oil

72.4

73.3

76.9

74.5

1.3%

4.8%

-3.0%

dairy products & non-alcoholic drinks

77.4

77.1

77.3

74.7

-0.3%

0.1%

-3.3%

alcoholic drinks

75.4

75.5

75.1

74.2

0.2%

-0.5%

-1.2%

Sub-HKCSI

69.9

70.3

70.7

70.2

0.5%

0.6%

-0.6%

housing rent: private house

68.0

64.3

66.2

66.6

-5.4%

2.8%

0.7%

housing rent: public house

66.5

67.1

68.4

70.4

0.9%

1.9%

3.0%

water supply

70.1

74.4

73.2

73.4

6.2%

-1.7%

0.2%

electricity supply

71.1

75.1

74.7

73.6

5.7%

-0.6%

-1.5%

Housing &

Towngas

74.5

72.7

73.8

74.0

-2.4%

1.6%

0.2%

Related Items

furniture

69.1

69.5

71.5

68.0

0.6%

2.8%

-4.9%

refrigerators

78.2

77.4

77.8

79.0

-1.0%

0.6%

1.5%

washing machines

73.4

75.9

73.9

76.5

3.3%

-2.7%

3.6%

air conditioners

72.0

73.2

76.3

75.8

1.6%

4.2%

-0.7%

small/medium electrical appliances

75.9

77.3

75.2

76.7

1.8%

-2.6%

1.9%

Sub-HKCSI

68.5

66.0

67.5

68.0

-3.7%

2.3%

0.6%

motor vehicles

76.1

74.9

76.1

77.8

-1.6%

1.7%

2.2%

tunnels

65.9

66.2

65.0

64.0

0.5%

-1.9%

-1.6%

motor fuel

73.5

71.4

73.6

72.8

-2.8%

3.1%

-1.2%

Transport

airlines

74.2

74.8

73.9

72.5

0.9%

-1.2%

-2.0%

public transport: buses

73.3

70.5

72.2

69.5

-3.8%

2.4%

-3.7%

public transport: MTR

75.1

76.2

75.9

75.2

1.4%

-0.3%

-1.0%

public transport: other modes

68.6

69.0

67.1

67.6

0.5%

-2.8%

0.8%

Sub-HKCSI

73.4

72.7

73.0

72.5

-1.0%

0.5%

-0.8%

postal services

79.4

78.4

82.0

79.3

-1.2%

4.6%

-3.3%

newspapers

70.1

71.0

71.2

73.2

1.2%

0.2%

2.9%

weekly magazines

68.8

67.4

67.6

67.7

-2.1%

0.3%

0.1%

international telephone services

73.9

72.9

70.5

73.0

-1.3%

-3.3%

3.6%

mobile phone services

70.8

68.8

67.6

69.9

-2.8%

-1.7%

3.3%

mobile phones

75.7

72.6

74.8

72.7

-4.0%

2.9%

-2.8%

local telephone services

71.3

71.8

68.0

68.5

0.8%

-5.4%

0.7%

Information &

television stations: paid

67.3

68.6

66.7

65.7

1.9%

-2.9%

-1.5%

Entertainment

video & sound equipment

74.5

73.2

75.5

73.4

-1.7%

3.1%

-2.7%

package tours: travel agents

72.8

72.5

72.8

72.8

-0.3%

0.3%

0.0%

camera & related products

77.1

74.8

76.5

77.6

-3.0%

2.3%

1.5%

movies

73.6

74.5

74.5

73.3

1.3%

0.0%

-1.6%

personal computers

75.2

75.2

73.8

75.8

0.0%

-1.9%

2.7%

Internet service providers (ISPs)

66.0

64.9

65.9

64.9

-1.7%

1.5%

-1.6%

music CDs

80.3

81.8

81.5

80.7

1.8%

-0.3%

-0.9%

movie CDs

72.9

72.8

72.6

75.0

-0.2%

-0.2%

3.2%

Sub-HKCSI

72.3

71.4

71.4

71.5

-1.3%

0.1%

0.1%

housing purchase: private house

71.6

72.1

72.3

74.4

0.6%

0.4%

2.9%

insurance services

73.4

70.9

73.2

70.7

-3.4%

3.1%

-3.4%

television stations: free

74.3

75.8

72.7

71.6

2.1%

-4.1%

-1.6%

broadcasting/radio stations

76.6

77.3

76.4

77.9

0.9%

-1.2%

2.0%

banks: general services

73.4

73.0

75.2

72.7

-0.5%

2.9%

-3.2%

banks: loan

72.8

73.9

73.4

73.6

1.6%

-0.7%

0.2%

investment services

75.7

74.0

68.9

69.4

-2.2%

-6.9%

0.8%

Non-CPI Items

supermarkets

71.0

68.2

70.8

70.7

-4.0%

3.8%

-0.1%

department stores

72.4

73.4

72.5

72.2

1.3%

-1.2%

-0.3%

real estate agents

66.7

65.1

66.6

64.9

-2.5%

2.3%

-2.5%

shopping in Shenzhen

60.2

61.6

63.4

61.7

2.3%

3.0%

-2.6%

entertainment in Shenzhen

65.1

64.3

68.2

67.3

-1.2%

6.1%

-1.3%

job-seeking magazines

61.8

61.9

59.5

61.2

0.3%

-3.9%

2.9%

comprehensive websites

74.8

74.6

76.5

75.1

-0.3%

2.5%

-1.8%

job-seeking websites

69.0

67.9

66.0

68.0

-1.5%

-2.9%

3.1%

Sub-HKCSI

70.6

70.3

70.4

70.1

-0.4%

0.1%

-0.4%

CityU-HKCSI (Overall)

70.2

69.1

69.9

69.9

-1.6%

1.2%

0.0%

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