All year when you see or hear a news outlet citing a homebuyer or homeseller statistic, odds are that it came from the annual National Association of Realtors’ “Home Buyer And Seller Generational Trends” report. The 2016 report was released this morning and shows that more millennials(defined as buyers and sellers age 35 and younger) are purchasing homesoutside of urban areas, and that despite the common refrain of millennial debt, these buyers don’t have the biggest student debt balances. Once again — for the third year in a row — millennials comprised the largest number of recent homebuyers. Here’s the approximate breakdown of respondents (due to rounding, numbers add up to more than 100 percent):
- Millennials: 35 percent
- Generation X: 26 percent
- Baby boomers: 31 percent
- Silent generation: 9 percent
Millennials moving home to the suburbs
Younger buyers seem to be shifting from seeking homes in urban city centers to the more sedate suburbs. The share of millennials buying in an urban area decreased to 17 percent from 21 percent in the 2015 NAR survey. Also, fewer millennials purchased multifamily homes than last year (10 percent instead of 15 percent).
Other millennial trends
Millennials were certainly making compromises in the homebuying process, according to Jessica Lautz, NAR’s managing director of surveys. These compromises tended to be on the size of house, or the house itself not being perfect. Millennials were also more likely to buy foreclosures than other buyers, she said. Millennials were willing to see a “diamond in the rough,” fix it up themselves and customize it for their own needs, said Lautz. “Other notables are that millennials, more than any others, think that buying a home is a good financial investment,” she added. Rising rents were a major contributing factor for millennials who made the step to buy. While they still had student debt — 44 percent of millennials have student debt of a median size of $25,000 — 23 percent were using a financial gift from a friend or relative to help with a down payment, as well as using their own savings. “Among the biggest factors influencing neighborhood choice, millennials were most influenced by the quality of the neighborhood (63 percent) and convenience to jobs (60 percent); convenience to schools was most desired by Gen X buyers, and proximity to friends and family by the Silent Generation,” reported NAR in its release.
For the full article go to https://www.inman.com/2016/03/09/millennial-buyers-moving-to-suburbs-nar-2016-trends-survey/
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