(Newswire.net — December 4, 2018) — According to a recent real estate forecast, it is predicted that millennials will continue to be the largest percentage of home buyers for 2019. This segment of the population will account for about 45 percent of mortgages. In contrast, only 17 percent of the older Baby Boomers, and 37 percent of the Gen Xers will be getting mortgages of their own.
Millennials, are considered those people who were born between the early 1980s to the mid 1990s or early 2000s. This generation grew up during and after the recession, and it affected their outlook and life choices, including their home purchasing preferences.
Millennials, as internet savvy consumers, are considered to be well-prepared home buyers. They do their research on the internet and use social media as a source of information and trends that influence their home purchasing decisions. Many from this generation opt for online tools such as Zillow to do their research and get estimates, rather than on using the traditional real estate agents that their parents used.
However, there is a caveat. These online sites providing home estimate can not be entirely relied upon for accuracy as the estimates “are within 5 percent of an actual sale price just 54 percent of the time,” according to the Law Offices of Marc J. Blumenthal, Ltd. As such, millennials should not plan to rely entirely on information sourced from the internet.
When it comes to home ownership, millennials are also looking for particular characteristics in neighborhoods and homes that differ from their parents generation. Neighborhoods that are walkable are in high demand, as well as homes that have easy access to public transportation and places of business and recreation.
This generation also prefer smaller homes, with more upgrades, in attractive neighborhoods than larger homes far away from the action. Millenials are willing to work for the home they want, too. For the right place in the right neighborhood, they will invest money, time and their own sweat into renovations and repairs that will modernize and update their desired home.
Not all millennials are equal, however. According to the study, first-time buyers will continue to struggle in 2019. Rather, it will be the older millennials, dubbed the “move-up buyers,” who are looking for homes in the mid to upper price range, who will fuel this trend.
The study also predicts that the impact of the millenials on the housing market will not reach its peak in 2019, but will continue to increase through 2020 and beyond. It is forecasted that millennials, many of whom will only be entering their thirties in 2020, will continue to be the largest percentage of home buyers for decades to come as they start and expand their families.