How Millennials are Changing the Housing Market

In the next five years, a whopping 66.1% of millennials are expecting to buy homes.

That kind of demand from the largest generation in American history certainly doesn’t go unnoticed – and it’s enough that it will help to shape the direction of the real estate industry itself.

Thinking Different

Each generation is different, so it’s no surprise that millennials have their own set of unique attitudes towards home buying.

Today’s infographic from Nationwide Mortgages takes a look at some of these differentiating factors, and provides some insight into how these preferences will create the drivers that ultimately affect the market as a whole.

It’s clear millennials are approaching the housing market in their own way that makes them unique from past generations. But what is it specifically that differentiates millennials in their attitudes and behaviors towards real estate?

Why Millennials Are Unique

As a group that grew up in the iPhone era, it’s obvious to say that millennials prefer to approach home buying in a more digital fashion, but they actually have other differences with Gen X and the Boomers that go much deeper.

To start, millennials much prefer to trust real estate agents than other generations. Only 8% of millennials did not use a realtor for their home purchases, while 13% of younger Boomers and 15% of older Boomers could say the same. Whether this is because of a lack of experience in the market, or because different attitudes towards agents, it’s hard to say.

Next, millennials associate buying a house with the American Dream at a higher rate (65.3%) than other groups. They do so even more than the Silent Generation (63.9%) – the group that grew up during World War II, and reaped the benefits of the post-war economic and housing booms.

Lastly, there are some other areas where millennials just have different preferences and attitudes towards owning a home. For example, they are less likely to define homeownership as permanent (11%), and consider their purchase only as a stepping stone towards the house they want (68% for millennials vs. 36% for all buyers). On top of that, they want very specific features in any home they buy – including things like new appliances, energy efficiency, big kitchens, home office space, proximity to work, and new technology in their homes.

Though some of the things that millennials want are treasured by other generations as well, millennials are having an impact on the industry just by the nature of their growing influence on the market. And for anyone that’s selling a house or making investments in real estate, this is a factor that should be taken into account.