Buyers are now looking for a home that they can move into and that offers the features and benefits that they need for their lifestyle. Recently in an article Ashton and Ashley commented on what they expect in their new home:
Like many first-time buyers, they initially looked at existing homes, but didn't want to spend all their spare time and money fixing a house up.
“With both of us working 40 to 45 hours a week and being full-time students, we didn't have time to fix up a house,” Ashton says. “We wanted a brand-spanking-new house.”
—Ashton working as a branch manager for a bank and Ashley managing a cell phone store—and making decent money, so they went looking. Even knowing there would only be two of them in the house, the Carthans say they wanted a minimum of three bedrooms for the resale value. They wanted a big kitchen with an island because they both like to cook. And they liked the idea of buying in a developing area because they would get more house for their money, and it would appreciate later on.
While the U.S. Census has no formal description of echo boomers, the National Association of Realtors—and other organizations—defines them as those born between 1982 and 1995, a group that totals about 75 million people. They are turning 21 at a rate of about four million per year, they are not afraid of taking on large amounts of debt, they have parents helping them with down payments, and they will be a major market for housing for years to come.
As a group, they share some characteristics that should be important to builders. First and foremost, they live in a totally connected, yet wireless world. They've never known a time when they didn't have home computers, Internet access, e-mail, or cell phones, and they're completely comfortable with technology. They expect that their homes will be equipped to handle their laptops, wireless routers, plasma TVs, video game controllers, cell phones, digital video recorders, iPods, and cable or satellite TV and radio.
They've rejected the hard-charging, workaholic attitude that was prevalent among adults in the 1980s and 1990s—and the cocooning trend in housing that went with it—for a more balanced lifestyle. They're less materialistic, less willing to work nights and weekends to pay for stuff they don't have time to use, and less willing to endure long commutes to jobs that keep them away from their loved ones. That means they're prime candidates for infill and transit-oriented development, particularly if it's close to amenities they value, such as restaurants, parks, shopping, and night life.
They don't want to spend their spare time taking care of a house and doing yard work, so new housing—including attached housing—is attractive to them.
“It's not because they can't afford single-family detached,” says Linda Mamet, vice president of sales and marketing for John Laing Homes' South Coast division. “It's about convenience, service, being close to entertainment, and balance between work and life. They're not willing to compromise their time.”
They're also not willing to compromise on quality, Mamet says. They've grown up with 500 cable channels and entire networks devoted to housing and fashion. They know and appreciate good design, and while their budgets might not permit high-end finishes throughout the home, they're willing to pay for it in areas that matter to them.
“They don't want it all,” says James Chung, president of Reach Advisors, a consumer demographic firm that studies echo boomers. “It's a shift from possessions to passions. This is a generation that has resigned itself to ‘I can't have it all, so I'll just have what's important to me and let the rest slide.'”
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