New Yorkers are Changing Traditional Housing | Haysha Deitsch

The real-estate sector, just like any other market is steered by constant changes in consumer demand. As the Baby Boom generation is on its way into retirement, America’s middle class continues to thrive and expand. This process results with new demands and preferences for the U.S. housing market. These changes are mostly related to the lifestyle of a new generation group, the Millennials. Known as offsprings of baby boomers, Millennials take the primate of a demographic group that inflicts a great impact on our society. In the following part of this article, I will point out some of the ways in which Millennials are changing the game of home buying and renting.

Being one of the most educated groups in America’s overall history, Millennials have the opportunity to travel much easier and more often. As a consequence of this constant moving, Millennials prefer to rent than own a living place. However, it doesn’t mean that this is a completely their own choice. When it comes to home buying, for Millennials the main obstacle in their goal is the cost of home ownership. With each year, this running expense continues to grow faster than the average salaries do. As previously acknowledged for being the most educated group in America, Millennials are also the most indebted group. This means that each of them on average comes with tens-of-thousands of dollars in student loans. And this may be the main reasons why in the past 10 to 15 years U.S. households continue to search for rental options for their real estate properties. As charts show there is a continuous rise in numbers of residents that choose to rent instead of purchasing a home. Following the peak recorded during 2008 financial crisis, real estate developers believed and acted in a direction of expecting a lower demand for rentals. But the market proved that this trend is still going popular, with solid chance to continue in that direction.

Opposite to the previous generations of home owners, Millennial look for homes that come with an extended list of amenities. This approach of what is essential for contemporary living resulted in stretching the period before they find a home that suits their needs. To some people, this became a deal breaker and prevented them from buying a home. Being a generation that grew up in a digital age, Millennials are fond of using modern technology. Their life is unthinkable without some of the new, nontraditional tools and this approach has changed the way landlords advertise their properties. Consequently, real estate agents are starting to lose their jobs to computers and smartphones. In this modern age, it is a completely expected thing to be happening as most of the Millennials search online for everything they need to find or buy. Today, more than 80% of them use smartphones to check the property online prior visiting it in person.

With all of the above mentioned, Millennials are becoming an important factor when it comes to shaping the housing market. More specifically, this trend isn't going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. Because they have a chance to educate themselves more than any other generation previously, Millennials use all the available resources in that direction. That includes searching online for real estate agents and other professionals from the housing market. At the end, this gives them an advantage when deciding on purchasing a new home.