While not comprehensive, here we will outline some of the biggest trends in the way next-generation consumers are approaching housing starting with where we live and continuing with other trends in future articles.
Where we live: Welcome to Hipsturbia
Next-gen consumers will sacrifice their paychecks and oftentimes opportunities to own a home for the ability to live in a city center (such as the Short North, Italian Village, Weinland Park, etc) while others will commute an hour in traffic each way to work.
That’s not because they’re irresponsible or love the podcast time. People will make significant trade-off in choosing where to live, sometimes for work, but also to be a part of a community (to be close to friends and family) and to get their children into the best schools to ensure they get the best education.
Community is a critical and often unmet need in our society, and many choose to pay the price for that need in either a high-priced condo or time in the car.
Our society may be attempting to rethink our concept of family, often by the places we choose to live.
Today we are crawling out from the wreckage of that hyper-individualism — which left many families detached and unsupported — and people are experimenting with more connected ways of living, with new shapes and varieties of extended families.
That’s why homebuyers who are fleeing expensive markets – like San Francisco and Los Angeles – are not all running to the suburbs where they may feel further isolated. Many are looking to “micro cities,” in which they have city amenities (community, proximity to experiences, transportation, etc.) in more affordable locations like Austin or Columbus. And the suburban areas they have moved into have the same “city within a city” vibe.
In the Urban Land Institute’s “2020 Emerging Trends in Real Estate“ report, they explain that while millennials are moving to some of the larger suburbs and smaller cities in search of more affordable housing, they are looking for walkable areas with their favorite aspects of cities (restaurants, bars and breweries, shops, beauty salons and barber shops, entertainment, transportation, etc.). The report coined the term, “hipsturbia,” as millennials reimagine suburbs as a hipster’s paradise.
Developers have certainly taken note of this trend, helping to build out some of the hottest new hipsturbias in places like Dallas’s Oak Park or Columbus’ Easton Town Center as well as Bridge Park. In the future, suburban areas will likely continue to morph into cities within cities to lower the cost of living, transportation times and pollutants.
What’s next?
Today’s customer doesn’t fit into the traditional mold of a suburban family with 2.5 kids. Alternative lifestyles and values have become mainstream, and it’s critical that companies in the housing industry understand this shift.
As top Columbus and Central Ohio Realtors, we seek to address all areas in which our society is changing to reevaluate our approach to the American Dream, helping our clients to make the best decisions as it relates to their housing needs and where the market and our industry is headed.
If you, or someone you know is considering Buying or Selling a Home in Columbus, Ohio please give us a call and we’d be happy to assist you!
The Opland Group Specializes in Real Estate Sales, Luxury Home Sales, Short Sales in; Bexley 43209 Columbus 43201 43206 43214 43215 Delaware 43015 Downtown Dublin 43016 43017 Gahanna 43219 43230 Grandview Heights 43212 Galena 43021 Hilliard 43026 Lewis Center 43035 New Albany 43054 Pickerington 43147 Polaris Powell 43065 Upper Arlington 43220 43221 Westerville 43081 43082 Worthington 43235
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