Personality linked to real estate choices

Your personality traits are strong indicators of real estate decisions, says a new study.

There is a correlation between personality and individual real estate choices, found the study.

If you are a conscientious person, you are likely to go for a fixed rate mortgage.

"This research falls within the scope of a much larger discussion in the social sciences in general, and in economics in particular, about what constitutes decision-making: the rational view versus that affected by emotional and cognitive biases," said Danny Ben-Shahar of Tel Aviv University's faculty of management in Israel."My work shows that people in the real estate framework act 'irrationally', as economists say, and not according to traditional economic assumptions," Danny Ben-Shahar added.

For the study, a personality assessment test called the "Big Five" was carried out with responses from 1,138 respondents.

The results showed a clear link between personality and real estate decisions.

Neurotic people, for example, prefer home ownership over renting.

"It turns out, not surprisingly to psychologists and behavioural economists perhaps, that there are very significant correlations between personality traits and preferences in real estate," Ben-Shahar said.

The study appeared in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.