At 92 million, millennials are now the largest generation by population in the United States. And while there’s power in numbers, millennials are impacting businesses in other ways. Their lifestyle, which prioritizes differently than their parents’ did, is reshaping commercial real estate. Our friends at Rising have been watching these changes for a while now. Here’s how they see millennials changing the CRE landscape:
Millennials favor urban environments. They want to live in densely populated areas with easy access to restaurants, nightlife, work, and public transportation. After watching their parents toil for two plus hours, languishing in traffic while commuting to and from work, they have learned to value their time.
Millennials are increasing the demand for mixed-use projects. Long gone are the days of long commutes. Driving 30 minutes or more just to go to dinner means a one-hour diversion at minimum. Since this generation is all about efficiency, they’d rather spend that hour with friends, at the gym, or any other activity.
Millennials are in no rush. They’re doing things a little bit later than their parents did and delaying life-changing decisions like home ownership, marriage, and starting a family. According to a Goldman Sachs report on millennials, in the last decade, the median marriage age for millennials has been 30 (compared to 23 for baby boomers). Without those life anchors, there’s less of a rush to move to the suburbs in search of more space and better schools. That’s good news for commercial real estate because it means more millennials enjoying an urban lifestyle for longer periods of time.
Read the complete article, including the full list of how millennials are changing the CRE landscape, by clicking here: Rising
Original article was written by Chris Rising and published by Rising.
