Who Prioritizes Avocado Toast, Craft Beer, and Travelling Above Home Ownership? Millennials. It’s All about Lifestyle for This Generation

If one were to browse Twitter, it quickly becomes apparent that millennials appear to blame the baby boomers for their housing market woes. Let’s dispel these myths with hard facts and really dig into how this influential generation is coping with the realities of the rental and housing markets.


Vancouver, BC, June 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vancouver, BC: The Real Estate Intelligence Network (REIN) is publishing for the first time The Millennial Report, which explores this massive demographic cohort and its impact on rental and housing markets in Canada. This report delves into the socio-cultural processes that have influenced this generation’s unique outlook on life, and how this cohort’s focus on lifestyle, including avocado toast, impacts real estate. Given their potential purchasing power as a demographic, millennials are key to understanding current and future rental and housing market trends. This report lays out tips so that investors, landlords, homeowners renting a suite, and Realtors® can meet the unique desires of this influential but beleaguered generation.

Millennials are a significant demographic that overtook the baby boomers in size in Canada in 2019. They currently range in age from 23 to 38. Older millennials are beginning to hit the key milestones of adulthood, like having their first child or purchasing their first home. But the youngest millennials are still about 10 to 12 years from reaching the 2017 average age of a first-time homebuyer. Will this younger segment of the demographic that has been more harshly penalized by the economy live at home even longer than their older peers? Will they remain renters even longer than the older millennials? 

Don R. Campbell, Senior Real Estate Analyst for REIN, says, “Culture shifts driven by lifestyle demands impact the real estate cycle and can have both negative and positive impacts on real estate values. For example, just as baby boomers embraced certain lifestyles choices and abandoned others, their children, the millennials, are also favouring certain locations and amenities that support their lifestyles. This can reduce the rental demand in some locations while creating new demand in unexpected new areas.”

“REIN's research uncovered the Avocado Toast Index, and while both hilarious and painful, the reality is that because millennials value lifestyle above all else, we shouldn’t be surprised that a developer is now including an incentive of one year’s worth of weekend avocado toast to appeal to the most indebted generation. REIN’s millennial report gives homeowners, sellers, and landlords all sorts of tips and tricks they can implement beyond avocado toast incentives to effectively meet the desires and needs of this generation, either as renters, or purchasers,” says Jennifer Hunt, Vice-President of Research, REIN.

The Millennial Report digs into the key issues necessary to understand this generation, including the socio-cultural factors that have influenced the values of millennials; the economic factors that are making first-time homeownership a difficult marker of adulthood to attain; the unique outlook of this group that influences how they spend their money; and how all of these factors combine to create a different perspective on home ownership, renting, education, career, children, and marriage that will influence real estate trends for many years to come. 

  • Specific takeaways for a landlord (rental housing provider) or seller to consider:
    • Lifestyle reigns supreme with this cohort – they want to be within walking distance of amenities that add valued experiences to their life (or transit to get them there).  
    • Millennials are a digital generation and want their home to run off their ever-present smart phone – install an App run lighting and heating system, and make sure there are lots of USB ports available for charging their devices.   
    • One study shows 75 per cent of millennials want new appliances.
    • Millennials are generally not interested in completing renovations themselves and want a new and trouble-free products.
    • The number one social media platform that is a must for marketing rental properties to millennials is Instagram.

For more information:  

Media can access a free copy the report here: http://cdn3.reincanada.com/Research/REIN_The_Millennial_Report_DIGITAL.pdf

About the Real Estate Intelligence Network

REIN was founded in 1992. It is Canada’s most trusted source of real estate investment education, analysis, research and strategic leadership. It offers a platform and environment where its clients have transacted more than 39,300 properties, representing more than $5.1 billion of real estate holdings. 

REIN delivers balanced and impartial research and economic insights integrated with relevant analysis. It brings critical information, opinions of industry thought leaders, and proven strategies of success together in a way that homebuyers and investors can use to make the right decisions on where, when, and why to invest in real estate. 

REIN sees a bright future for the Canadian real estate marketplace. Its clients, armed with current and insightful research, and provided with strategic guidance and help from an exceptional like-minded community, are set to continue to thrive and achieve their personal investment goals.

 


            

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