11 Real Estate Trends In 2019
Lack of affordable housing inventory: African Americans have 9 percent less purchasing power than the average buyer, Hispanic Americans have 12 percent less, and people with student loan debt have 19 percent less. It's not just millennials who are strapped with student loans. People over the age of 60 are carrying 1,250 percent more student loan debt than they were a decade ago.
Repeat buyers are older and unmarried buyers are increasing: “A lot of people are shacking up but not necessarily walking down the aisle,” Lautz says. In the 1980s, the vast majority were married couples—reaching as high as 75 percent of first-time buyers. That number has since dwindled down to 54 percent today, followed by single female buyers at 18 percent, unmarried couples at 16 percent, and unmarried men at 10 percent.
Caregiving for pets and aging parents: Last year, one in six Gen X buyers purchased a home they could share with their aging parents as well as their children.
The bank of mom and dad: One-third of buyers today are receiving down-payment help from family and friends.
Tenure in a home is getting longer: The length of time homeowners spent in their home stayed roughly stagnant, with a steadily climbing, reaching 10 years.
Student debt is crushing finances: Average student loan borrowers carry a median student loan debt of $41,200 and a median income of $38,800.
The bar for buyer expectations has risen: According to NAR’s 2019 Profile of Home Staging 83 percent of buyers’ agents who took the survey said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.
Sustainability is a cool concept—when buyers can afford it: Green and energy-efficient features are lower priorities on buyers’ wish lists than a decade ago.
Marijuana is a “budding” issue: Commercial practitioners are likely seeing an increase in demand for warehouse and storefront space in states where medical or recreational marijuana is legal
Agent use is high: “Not that kind of high,” Buyers want an agent who will walk them through the home buying and selling processes.
Homeownership is the goal: Non-owners still see homeownership as part of the American Dream.
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