A home for the ages
Which generational category (e.g. millennials, generation x, boomers) represents the largest percentage of homebuyers in Texas?
I was curious, so I conducted an informal, entirely unscientific survey in Tuesday’s edition of RECON. I asked residential real estate professionals to tell us which group is buying the most homes. We had 122 responses, and 30.3 percent said most of their buyers are millennials (born 1980-98), while 27 percent said Gen-Xers (1965-79). Younger boomers (1955-64) are the top group for 18.9 percent of sellers, older boomers (1946-54) for 16.4 percent, and the silent generation (1925-45) for 7.4 percent.
Turns out our results track fairly closely with what the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found in their recent study of buyer/seller generational trends (a study that’s presumably more statistically sound than our quick poll). According to their findings, 34 percent of recent homebuyers were millennials.
Actually, their survey turned up quite a bit about that age demographic. Among their other findings:
- Millennial buyers, at 85 percent, were the most likely generation to view their home purchase as a good financial investment.
- Millennials were the most likely to use a real estate agent to both buy their home (92 percent) and to sell (90 percent).
- Only 15 percent of millennial buyers bought in an urban area, which is down from 17 percent last year and 21 percent two years ago.
