Which house to be purchased they greatly emphasized

which house to be purchased, they greatly emphasized on special features of the houses such as
construction quality, construction duration and size of the house. This is due to the fact that these features
are tangible and easily for consumers to evaluate upon buying a house. Remarkably, the findings of this
present study echoed previous studies such as Adair et al. (1996), Daly et al. (2003), Opuku and Abdul-
Muhmin (2010), Razak et. al. (2013)and Sengul et al. (2010).
5.5 Living Space
Much of previous studies found the importance link of living space and house purchase (Chan,
So, Tang and Wong, 2008; Graaskamp, 1981; Opoku and Abdul-Muhmin, 2010). However, it was
interesting to note that living space was found to have a negative and insignificant relationship with house
purchase intention. Hence, to average Kota Kinabalu house buyers, living space features such as number
of storey and number of bathrooms were not significant in their purchase decision. It appears that average
consumers in Kota Kinabalu see a housing product as coming in standardized size which just meets the
minimum requirement of an average family to satisfy their needs. Any extra would be a luxury and incur
high price which they do not need. Interestingly, the finding of this study was not in line with many local
studies such as Razak et al. (2013).
5.5 Environment
To many house buyers, housing environment is vital so that they can have a peaceful life and
minds living in area which are free from noise, traffic and pollution. This present study also recognized
the importance of environment especially its link to house purchase decision. It was found that
environment has a significant positive relationship with house purchase i ntention (β=.112, P<.05) . In
general, house buyers in Kota Kinabalu are concerned on environmental issues especially towards noise,
air pollution and traffic issues. This finding is consistent with the study done by Zrobek, Trojanek,
Sokolnik and Trojanek (2015) when their studies amongst Poland consumers found that consumers
preferred a quiet neighbourhood and scenic value as the most important environment attributes.
5.6 Superstition-Numbers
Superstition-numbers is a concerning factor when some numbers are perceived as lucky or
unlucky to the individual connected to it. Among the Hakka Chinese for example, number four (4) sounds
like the word ‘death’ and this is obvious ly not favourable to them. Similarly, number thirteen (13) is
considered unlucky universally. However, number eight (8) is considered a lucky number by majority of
the Chinese. In this study however, it was found that superstition-numbers has a significant but weak
positive relationship with house purchase i ntention (β=.136, p<.05). In can be concluded that consumers
in Kota Kinabalu are still superstitious to some extent but contrary to expectation. In a positive sense,
numbers mentioned above were considered lucky on average, even for number 4 and 13. Among possible
reasons are the small number of Chinese respondents with quite high education level and young in age.