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Consumer Buying Trends { Demographics & buying patterns for the home } January 2015 ForResidentialPros.com | 13 SALES GROUP SALES DIRECTOR AND MIDWEST MANAGER Paul DeGrandis 724 12th St., Suite 1W Wilmette, IL 60091 (847) 920-9510 Paul@SOLAbrands.com EAST/SOUTHEAST Joanne Naylor 540 Lee Court Wyckoff, NJ 07481 (201) 891-9170; Fax: (201) 839-9161 Joanne@SOLAbrands.com Vaughn Rockhold 724 12th St., Suite 1W Wilmette, IL 60091 (216) 272-1008 Vaughn@SOLAbrands.com WEST/SOUTHWEST Reed Fry 724 12th St., Suite 1W Wilmette, IL 60091 (949) 223-1088 Reed@fry-comm.com PRODUCT & LITERATURE SHOWCASE/CLASSIFIED ADS Nancy Campoli 558 Prospect Avenue River Vale, NJ 07675 (201) 690-6898 Nancy@SOLAbrands.com EDITORIAL Janice Anne Costa, Editor (516) 605-1426 Janice@SOLAbrands.com Anita Shaw, Managing Editor (631) 581-2029 Anita@SOLAbrands.com Andrea Girolamo, Contributing Editor (516) 398-9806 Andrea@SOLAbrands.com PUBLISHING SOLA Group, Inc. 724 12th St., Suite 1W Wilmette, IL 60091 (847) 920-9510 Paul DeGrandis, Publisher Paul@SOLAbrands.com Eliot Sefrin, Publisher Emeritus Eliot@SOLAbrands.com REPRINT SERVICES For reprints and licensing please contact Nick Iademarco at Wright's Media (877) 652-5295 ext. 102 or niademarco@wrightsmedia.com. SUBSCRIPTIONS Kitchen & Bath Design News Circulation Dept. P.O. Box 3007 Northbrook, IL 60065-3007 (866) 932-5904 circ.kbdn@omeda.com MAILING LIST RENTAL Elizabeth Jackson (847) 492-1350 ext. 18 ejackson@meritdirect.com ForResidentialPros.com ® Millennials Seen Fueling Demand for Smaller, Less-Expensive Homes New Orleans — Adult millennials – households currently aged 18 to 33 – are expected to have a major impact on the future of the nation's housing market, as well as on trends in residential remodeling and kitchen/bath design. That's the consensus view of realtors, economists and housing analysts who gathered in New Orleans recently to discuss the efects of changing homebuyer demographics on the U.S. housing market. Among those efects, analysts said, is an anticipated increased demand for smaller, less ex- pensive homes, as well as products, features, styling, colors and design preferences favored by younger, less-traditional homeowners than those who fueled the pre-recession housing and remodeling boom. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, new household formations were depressed, as the number of millennials living with their parents, or doubling or tripling up in apart- ments, soared to about 3-4 million above normal. In contrast, as the economy continues to improve and these individuals begin to form their own households, that trend is expected to boost demand for new housing while reshaping both the client profle and the demands placed on kitchen/bath design professionals, analysts said. In 2014, millennials saw 60% better job growth than the U.S. overall, and a drop in unemployment to 6%. This growth, along with improved economic opportunities, should encourage these individuals to form households and buy homes in the coming years, according to the National As- sociation of Realtors "Millennials are the largest generation of people in the U.S., and represent 60% of first-time homebuyers," said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for realtor.com. "They are also more likely than any other group to purchase a home in the next year." Tightened inventory, difculty obtaining credit and lower- than-average salaries have kept many of these buyers out of the market for the past several years, but most economists now see that as a temporary setback, the Washington, DC- based NAR observed. "It's not that young people don't want to purchase homes – it's that they're delaying the purchase," said Lisa Sturtevant, v.p./research for the National Housing Conference. "Many of the reasons millennials are not forming households or making purchases are economic, so as the economy improves, we should see this group become more of a force in the housing market." According to Smoke, however, it's a misperception that millennials are not already participating in the market. "They represented 37% of home shoppers this summer, and over the next fve years this generation will make up two-thirds of household formations," Smoke said. "Between June and September of 2014, over half of adults aged 21 to 34 visited real estate Web sites or mobile apps. And this is [ just] the cusp. Get ready for the millennial wave to drive the housing market for decades. "With millennials searching for new homes, baby boomers downsizing and groups with historically lower incomes all entering the market, an increased demand for smaller, less expensive homes will begin to emerge," Smoke added. With millennials growing in buying power and boomers looking to downsize, demand for smaller homes is expected to increase this year, according to economists for the National Association of Realtors. Photo: Stacy Zarin Goldberg; Designer: Keith Long, Glickman Design Build, Potomac, MD