Demand from Millennials is shaping our real estate market

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Baby boomers may be sitting on an astounding amount of home equity, but it’s younger Millennials who are changing the shape of the real estate market right across the country.

Pent-up demand from 25 to 30-year-olds is starting to affect how homes are built and bought.

That particular age bracket is being called the “Peak Millennials” and a new survey from Royal LePage shows their dream to own property is very strong.

“The Millennial generation, particularly the peak Millennials — those currently 25 to 30 — are now the largest number of people in North America. Two thirds of them don’t own a home today and almost all of them — 87 per cent — want to,” says CEO Phil Soper.

Soper says a huge wave of young buyers is putting pressure on entry-level homes and while half of young buyers still desire a detached house and picket fence in the suburbs, an increasing number are looking for vertical living.

“I believe our attitudes towards condominium living will shift. And marketers and Millannials themselves will make it increasingly the desired place that they create families and buy real estate.”

However, Millennials face challenges their baby-boomer parents never encountered. While large urban markets like Vancouver have the jobs, buyers face limited inventory and high home values.

That pent-up demand is forcing young buyers to be more inventive. And Soper says careful attention to urban planning could help ease some of their constraints, with more focus on vertical living and developing larger, affordable condos in urban markets.

Soper says places like Saskatchewan are seeing success in catering to Millennials in their regional economic development plans and there’s a message here for metro areas:

“I believe communities around our largest cities may well market themselves in the same way. ‘Come live in our community. We have affordable homes.'”