Major Housing Shift Expected for 2017
As we enter the final act of 2016, it is only natural to look toward the future. While this year's housing market saw its share of both positives and negatives, experts are predicting significant shifts in 2017, led by a huge increase in the number of first-time home buyers!
As we discussed in our previous post, four different groups all predicted that 2017 will show overall sales gains compared to 2016. One of the chief drivers of this growth is expected to be an increase in millennial home buyers, those between 18-35 years old. Now, realtor.com has joined the hype train, releasing its prediction of a massive increase in the number of first-time home buyers!
Looking at the demographics of home shoppers on their site, realtor.com found that 52% of September visitors reported themselves as first-time home buyers. Compare this to September 2015, when just 33% labeled themself a first timer, and the stark contrast becomes clear. Because the vast majority of these home searchers will not actually complete the process until next year, these numbers serve as a good predictor of future trends.
Realtor.com broke their findings down by age and found that older millennials, those age 25-35, made up a full third of current home buyers. Further, nearly 75% of this age group is a first-time home buyer, meaning that they represent almost half of all the first-time buyers currently shopping on realtor.com's website. Keep in mind, this number is inherently too low, as it only counts the older segment of the millennial generation.
So what are the factors that hold the greatest sway with of this generation of home buyers? Their top reasons for buying a home were "being tired of current living arrangements", "getting married/moving in with partners", "increase in family size", and "desire to live closer to good schools". Their highest-rated requirement for a home was "moving into a safer neighborhood" by a wide margin, followed by "larger yards/lots", "good schools", and "quality of construciton". Their greatest impediment to buying was the down payment, and they had the greatest preference for an attached condo/townhome of any age group.
Source: Realtor.com September Home Shopper Surveys Point to Big Shift Ahead
- Cheryl Bourland's blog
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