Millennials are those defined to be under 35. They are outpacing the number of boomers. They are in no rush to buy their own homes and may be saving up by living in their parents homes longer than previous generations. They still desire to buy in the future but have very clear preferences in their desires which will further shape new home trends. They want to be close to everything and have a high quality of life. Urban life suits them and they want convenience like being close to work, a local starbucks, restaurants & bars, high technology options in the home, open versatile floor plans and they are willing to pay a premium. Many coastal regions of Southern California foot this desire thus demand for these cities like Santa Monica, Venice, Playa Del Rey, Playa Vista and Marina Del Rey will continue as well.
What millennials want in a home
Published: Sept 15, 2014 6:02 a.m. ET
Not ready to buy, but starting to fantasize
That doesn’t mean, however, that they’ll remain renters—or freeloaders in mom and dad’s basement—forever. And the housing and mortgage industries can’t wait.
“The story line has been that millennials are not forming households, they’re living with mom and dad,” said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for Realtor.com. But this group’s usage of mobile real estate applications and websites is on the rise, Smoke says, up 61% year-over-year as of July based on his analysis of comScore data of people between the ages of 25 and 34. More than one-third of millennials used a mobile device in July to look at real estate data, he said.
That says to Smoke that millennials are at least thinking about buying or renting a home, and researching the market to learn their options.
What’s more, a recent Redfin survey found that 92% of people in this age group who don’t have a home want to buy one in the future, said Nela Richardson, the real-estate company’s chief economist. And there are some clear preferences in what they want in a home.
As millennials reach peak home-buying age, their needs and wants will shape the future of the housing and mortgage industries—much as the boomers did before them—based on the sheer number of millennials out there, Richardson said. Smoke estimates there are 87 million millennials in the U.S., compared with 75 million boomers.
The Redfin analysis delves into census data to determine where most millennials are living today, and there’s a dominant theme: Millennial renters like to be close to everything they need, including transportation, work, coffee shops and bars, Richardson said.
That means millennials are concentrated in neighborhoods such as Dupont Circle and Georgetown in Washington, D.C.; north of the Loop on Lake Michigan in Chicago; and in Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Magnolia and Ballard in Seattle. Rentals can be pricey in these areas.
Lots of amenities
And this amenity-rich living is likely something they’re going to want when they buy a home, Richardson said. Of course, neighborhood affordability also is a huge factor when it comes to buying a first home, she added. After all, when you’ve been paying high rents for years in trendy neighborhoods, it makes it that much harder to save up for a down payment.
But the places where millennials settle may adapt to become more like the urban areas where they once rented—places where there’s always a coffee shop nearby, Richardson said.
Good schools
For those with kids or planning to start a family, of course, schools are also important. When house hunting, those born after 1980 are less likely than other generations to compromise on school districts, according to a Realtor.com survey. Fifty-two percent of millennials said the quality of a school district could be a deal breaker in their search for the perfect home, compared with 31% of all buyers.Home technology
Millennials will forgo other home comforts in return for more technology capabilities in a home, said Sherry Chris, chief executive of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. They want a home that is connected, one where they can use their iPad to turn the heat up and down, she said.And in a recent Century 21 survey of single homeowners, 28% of those between the ages of 25 and 35 said good cellphone coverage is a deciding factor in whether they would buy a particular home, said Rick Davidson, chief executive of Century 21 Real Estate.
Smaller, flexible spaces
Both boomers and millennials want smaller spaces these days, said James Roche, chief executive of Houseplans.com, a provider of online home-design and remodeling plans. But millennials aren’t attracted to traditional styles; instead, they’re looking for modern homes that are cost- and energy-efficient, and designs that better reflect how people live comfortably today.Indeed, part of the reason they’re thinking small: They don’t want to pay for heating and cooling rooms that they don’t often use. They also care whether a home is built sustainably, Roche said.
And while past generations may have wanted a dining room—to pack the whole family into for Thanksgiving dinners—this generation may figure that a multipurpose space is better, considering large holiday gatherings aren’t everyday affairs, he said.
Chris agreed. “They don’t want the old fashioned traditional formal dining room. They want to take the structure and make it their own,” she said. “A dining room can become a media room. There’s not the formality there was with the baby boomers,” she said.
Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-millennials-want-in-a-home-2014-09-15?page=1
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