Millennials represent a large part of the homebuyer population. Learn about the features they look for when buying new homes and how to attract millennial homebuyers.
Millennials have been a major driving force for all the emerging trends and services. Their massive buying power led industries to take notice of their lifestyle and preferences to cater to their changing demands. These include sustainable lifestyle stores and solar power companies that offer eco-friendly and energy-saving products.
Recent studies show that millennials take one-third of the potential homebuyer population. As they gain a new focus towards the housing market, millennials are expressing their interests in eco-friendly and ‘wellness-minded’ homes. One example are functional and energy-saving homes made from environmentally-friendly materials with solar panel installations.
Whether you are working in real estate or planning to sell your home, it is important to take note of the buying trends among millennial homebuyers. This approach will help increase potential leads and make an attractive offer to every millennial buyer. That being said, here are the emerging home buying trends among millennials.
Multifunctional living spaces
A traditional family home often comprises a kitchen, dining room, living room, one to two bathrooms, and a few bedrooms. But for millennials, they often treat modern homes quite differently. Selling a home to millennial buyers means throwing off the traditional home layout and giving more importance to a simpler floor plan.
Instead of single-purpose rooms, home builders should aim for multifunctional and customizable areas. When building a house for a millennial consumer base, you need to consider customization, open layouts, simplicity, and efficiency. Millennials often prefer multipurpose spaces to make the most out of their home instead of confining themselves to a room’s specific purpose.
Millennials are also pushing for personalized home features. A customizable home is an important factor in their buying decision as it gives them the ability to rethink their living spaces and style them whichever they want.
Sustainable homes
Because of the increasing awareness about the current environmental issues, millennials are now focused on making sustainable lifestyle changes to care for the environment. Compared to other generations, millennials are more personally involved in making positive impacts on the environment.
This emerging consumer behavior led brands and companies to develop sustainable products and services for the millennial market. As a result, many businesses are embracing the green movement to improve their public image among millennial consumers.
Due to the demand for economical and energy-saving homes, contractors and builders are now constructing buildings with sustainable elements in mind. This is especially true for millennials looking for sustainable housing with excellent energy-efficient ratings.
A sustainable home focuses on environmentally-friendly features built from alternative materials and uses renewable energy resources, such as wind power, high-quality insulation, and solar panels. Millennials prefer homes with good ventilation and natural lighting coming from large windows. A sustainable home should also be self-sufficient, where it uses less power and heat and has a lesser environmental impact.
When marketing a sustainable home, do not focus on its upfront costs. As discussed earlier, most millennials are hesitant to pay for a premium for eco-friendly homes despite their willingness to live in one. Instead, discuss how much they can save in the long-term, especially if the house has plenty of energy-saving features. Millennials like to feel that they are doing a part in saving the environment, so it makes sense to emphasize the sustainable qualities of the house.
Pets as motivators
For traditional home buyers, their partners and kids play a huge factor when buying a home. But for millennials, their pets are their primary motivations when looking for a living space.
Pet-friendly homes are a new trend in the real estate market and construction. Millennials prefer spacious homes to accommodate their furry friends. This often happens when renting an apartment space, and the landowner charges extra fees for certain breeds or prohibits pet ownership because of the smell and loud noises. The desire to have a cat or dog in their homes pushes millennials to purchase a house where they can coexist with their pets. That being said, home ownership becomes a practical alternative among pet owners.
To market a house for millennial pet owners, the floor plan should be spacious enough to accommodate food areas and storage space for large bags of pet food. Other features may also include easy-to-clean walls and floors, spacious green yards, indoor and outdoor cameras, cat flap or doggy dog, walking paths, and a nearby dog park.
Millennials hold the power to transform the consumerism landscape. Their global reach has become a main driver of the changing consumer behaviors, especially in real estate. With more home design trends introduced every day, expect that millennials will look for ways to add value and comfort to their homes while focusing on their emerging needs.
