America’s dominant generation today is the highly nurtured and pampered millennials. Their upbringing led them to become confident and ambitious achievers. They expect employers and companies to take good care of them, provided they trade something off in exchange. Such as their skills, time, and money.
The common millennial attitude may lead many of us into thinking they’ll go to great lengths to achieve their goals: owning a home, getting a job with an employer that pays well and rewards their efforts, and many more.
In terms of buying and owning homes, most Americans perceived the millennial behavior as one that wouldn’t settle. Their go-getter attitude puts them out of settling in a single job, which means the possibility of them staying or living in one place is low. This makes them the most unlikely individuals to invest in buying a residential property they’ll call home.
Are millennials buying homes?
The perception, however, turned out to be wrong. The dominant generation’s current age range is between 24 to 40 years old. Real estate marketplace Zillow found that the typical age of the first-time American home buyer is 34 years old. That age sits right between the millennial age range today. The forecast for the generation’s home buying behavior was that they’ll never get around purchasing a residential property that will tie them down to one place turned out to be wrong because millennials are now buying homes.
In 2019, 37 percent of home buyers were millennials, which makes the generation the biggest group of buyers the same year. The numbers turned out high because they’re adjusting to new lives, starting families, changing careers, or settling into one. Low interest rates, the need for bigger space, property ownership, and their desire to grow their wealth are also among the factors pushing millennials into buying homes.
What is the millennial home buying behavior?
This tech-savvy generation has a high level of reliance on their electronic devices. They rely on their devices to accomplish daily tasks, work, communicate, make purchases, and many more. Even in their home buying pursuits, technology plays a central role.
The National Association of Realtors found that 99 percent of millennials use search engines to obtain general information on buying homes and the current state of the housing market.
Their reliance on their mobile devices for making real estate-related searches is also higher than the preceding baby boomer generation, with 58 percent of millennials using their mobile phones and other similar gadgets to find the place they want to purchase.
This recognized behavior directly affects how real estate agents, brokers, and mortgage providers take on their role in buying homes. In addition, the function of real estate agents also changed along with the new reliance on technology. Real estate agents used to be valued for the information they have on buying and selling homes, but that information can now be found in the wide information box that is on the internet. Today’s real estate agents are valued based on their ability to secure the best prices for their clients, relationships with brokers, and their capacity to keep up with the changing market and processes.
What homes are they looking for?
Millennials are looking for places to begin the next stage of their lives. But they’re not the type who’d settle for old homes that are within their budget. Most of them don’t pay attention to starter homes, which are small properties or condominiums. They’re looking for properties with a lot of space and good value. The goal is to live in a comfortable home while increasing their wealth as the home’s value appreciates.
In terms of environment and location, 47 percent of millennials are looking at and purchasing homes situated in the suburbs, as opposed to rural areas and big cities.
Their delayed entry into the housing market pushed them to demand the comfort they waited so long for. Along with increasing incomes, millennials are enabling themselves to acquire the comfort they need and other benefits such as increasing their wealth.
The emphasis they put on technology as they dig through properties for the right one is causing a lot of disruption to the other players in the housing market, such as real estate agents, realtors, brokers, and mortgage lenders. They’re being pushed to accommodate the new generation of home buyers with different preferences and a high amount of reliance on all things convenient. Fortunately, the housing market is fully capable of adapting and going through changes. A different market doesn’t mean it’s a bad one.
