Young people still want to own homes

Gen Y – Largest Population Segment in the Market!
“In 2010 Generation Y surpassed the baby boomers to become America’s largest generation,” begins Leanne Lachman and Debrah Bretts article Generation Y: America’s New Housing Wave in this months Urban Land Magazine (January/February 2011) www.uli.org. Gen Yer’s now account “for 25 percent of America’s population,” which can be seen as incredibly positive or negative depending on how you envision the associated descriptions of Gen Yer’s as “emerging adults, plugged in, social, connected, high maintenance, outspoken, educated, multi-cultural, high performance, entitled, civic minded, tattooed, pampered.”

As you read the article however, the most striking thing is their desire for home ownership, even though “29 percent are still living at home.” Even after witnessing one of the most severe economic downturns other than the depression, values of real estate being depleted, and record foreclosures and peoples net worths and residences being taken away. The article repeatedly references a ULI survey, which shows a large majority of the respondents want to own their own home:

35% of the respondents currently own their own homes…..[and] within five years, two-thirds of all respondents expect to own their residences, including over half those who will still be in their 20’s in 2015. Almost 80 percent of those who will be in their mid-30’s anticipate owning, [thus] 90 percent of gen-Yers plan on owning a home.

I have not reviewed the survey, nor have I been able to find it online, however, this is a major factor that will affect our business. As a long time homeowner, I have been actually questioning whether the flexibility and mobility of renting could be a good plan. I've also long thought the idea of a second home was a crazy expense in lieu of hotel. This is an interesting dynamic. What does this mean to our current focus on for-rent housing, I don’t know, but what I do know is that it sounds like the future is bright for those of us condominium and for-sale developers as soon as the mortgage market gets itself worked out!

Here are the Current Generations by Percentage of U.S. Population
3.3% Silent generation (age 81+)
9.7% Depression and war babies (65 – 80)
24.6% Baby boomers (46 – 64)
17.2% Generation X (33 – 45)
25% Generation Y (15 – 32)
20.1% Generation Next (<15)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010