Information technology makes ownership easier
The survey was conducted by International Communications Research of Philadelphia and included 1,514 online responses from first-time homebuyers. It showed that 42 percent of Gen-X respondents and 39 percent of Gen-Y respondents saw a home purchase as an investment.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
Of the baby boomers who responded, 35 percent said they were most likely to purchase a home for “family reasons.”
Michele Caprio, president of the R.I. Association of Realtors and a broker at Center Place Realty in Cranston, said the average age of a first-time homebuyer is around the lowest it has been in 20 years.
Part of the reason, she said, is that the younger generations have grown up in a fairly stable market that has not seen severe depressions and widespread bank closings. But the thriving market in recent years has also shown younger people the value of real estate, Caprio said.
“They see the value of being a homeowner, and that there are lots of different reasons why they should do it,” Caprio said. “Tax benefits are probably not one of the things they are thinking of, but perhaps it’s just the idea of building wealth.”
David Iannuccilli, broker owner with Re/MAX Professionals in East Greenwich, attributed the change to the younger generations’ “get-it-now” mentality.
Growing up in an age of microwave ovens and Blackberry devices, members of Generation Y are interested in taking important life steps as early as possible, Iannuccilli said. They also have made use of an important tool – the Internet – in the home-buying process.
In fact, the Century 21 survey found that Generation Y homebuyers were far likelier than their Generation X counterparts to use the Internet when searching for a house – 42 percent vs. 26 percent.
“[The younger generation] has the wherewithal to cut through a lot of the chase, but ultimately … they’re going to end up going through the same process,” Iannuccilli said.
However, Caprio said she has found the opposite – that older people have used the Internet to find the home they want to purchase. Affluent people nearing retirement have sought out real estate on the Web.
“That’s been a surprising trend in the demographic that I’ve seen develop,” Caprio said. “I had assumed that it would’ve been the younger generation using a lot of those tools.”
One area of the market that is being driven by generational trends is condominiums, Caprio said. In many cases, aging baby boomers are looking to downsize and eliminate some of the responsibilities that have come with the home they have owned for years.
Similarly, young professionals are often looking for similar characteristics when they purchase their first home.
“On the other end of the spectrum is [younger] folks that are probably working a tremendous amount of hours when they are just starting out,” she said. “It’s an excellent option for a professional person looking to buy into homeownership but isn’t looking for … all the responsibility that can come along with it.”
Iannuccilli said older generations are driving the second-home market – though that market is much larger in states such as New Hampshire and Florida than in Rhode Island.
His comments were in line with the Century 21 survey, which said that more baby boomers than anyone else cite southeastern states as their location of choice for a second home.
Other findings of the Century 21 Homebuyer Survey included:
•Baby boomers were likely to list price as a key concern when purchasing (51 percent) compared with Generation X (42 percent) and Generation Y (39 percent).
•Baby boomers were the quickest first-time buyers to complete transactions, within an average of 4.3 months. Generation X consumers took 4.6 months while Generation Y consumers took 5.4 months.
•Generation Y buyers were most likely to live with parents and in-laws in order to save up money for a home purchase – 22 percent said they had. Only 7 percent and 3 percent of Generation X consumers and baby boomers, respectively, said they had lived with parents or in-laws to save for home purchasing.
