Being a millennial, and being perpetually in the process of moving, I’ve been thinking about my generation’s real estate trends quite a lot recently. There’s an abundance of talk out there about what millennials (the generation aged about 18-35 and born between the early 1980s and early 2000s) want in a home, but it’s often hard to tell fact from fiction, and so millennial home buying trends tend to remain a bit of a mystery. To set matters straight, here are some of the most important trends millennials consider when buying a home.
- Uber Urban
This one’s kind of a gimme. It’s pretty well known that millennials favor hip urban centers with ready access to bars, restaurants, services, and cultural centers. Rather than dreaming of making it to the suburbs like their parents, most millennials want to be where the action is. This trend is at least partly responsible for the boom in urban populations, and it has made cities such as Seattle, Portland, Denver, and Austin hot spots for the young.
Along with this urban focus comes a fondness for an industrial style. Instead of looking for spic and span spaces, millennials are favoring styles that are tastefully messy. Exposed brick and reclaimed wood are typical choices for millennials looking for a weathered but elegant tone for their homes.
- Minimalism Matters
If millennials are prone to living in dense urban centers, then our living quarters are going to be accordingly smaller. In that case, most millennials are looking for a simple but graceful aesthetic suitable for minimal space. And, along with a smaller space comes a different outlook on what the home can or should be: rather than thinking about home as the center of activity, many millennials are using their living spaces as “launching” points for activities. To put it another way, most of millennials’ significant activity takes place outside of the home, making it more sensible to invest in a smaller space.
This millennial home buying trend also means that many millennials aren’t terribly concerned about yard space. That’s not to say millennials don’t like the outdoors (on the contrary, most of us are happiest when we’re clad in full REI regalia and striding through vast, mountain-y vistas). Instead, it just means that millennials would rather outsource outdoor space to Mother Nature, keeping yard work to a minimum.
3. Green
Born into a society increasingly concerned with the state of the environment, millennials have introduced sustainability to the home. Favoring energy efficiency, recycled materials, and the tiniest of carbon footprints, many millennials strive to make the earth a greener place, one home at a time. This home buying trend explains the boom in environmentally friendly accessories such as low-E windows and living or green roofs. It also explains a growing trend in community development. An increased focus on communities with bike and walking paths, as well as ample parks and gardens, can be seen as offshoots of the millennial desire for a green and sustainable home.
In short, millennials are actually quite concerned with what a home can and should be, and we’re becoming an increasingly important driving force in the housing market. If you’re a millennial looking for a home, be sure to contact Pickett street at (425) 502-5397 or info@pickettstreet.com.
Sources:
http://realtormag.realtor.org/home-and-design/architecture-coach/article/2014/10/what-millennial-buyers-want-now
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/millennials-are-buying-homes-and-theyre-buying-them-in-the-suburbs-2016-03-09