As growing numbers of millennials enter the homebuying market, more are choosing the suburbs over big city living.
That’s according to a recent report by Zillow on consumer housing trends in 2016.
Almost 50% of millennial homeowners live in the suburbs, while 33% live in an urban neighborhood and just 20% live in a rural area, according to the 2016 Zillow Group Report on Consumer Housing Trends. Millennials made up 42% of homebuyers last year, with most of them buying for the first time, the report found.
“Millennials have delayed home buying more than earlier generations, but don’t underestimate their impact on the housing market now that they’re buying,” Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow Group chief marketing officer, said in a news release about the report.
Most millennials believe buying a home is a good financial investment, but many delayed homeownership until recently, according to the release. The median age of a first-time homebuyer is 33 years old, compared to 29 a generation ago, the release stated.
“As members of this huge generation start moving into the next stage of life, expect the homeownership rate to tick up and suburbs to change to suit their urban tastes,” Wacksman said in the release. “We’re constantly learning about this young group of homebuyers — we’re finding that they are more similar to older generations than many thought. Their views on community and homeownership are pretty traditional, and they don’t all fit the urban stereotype you might have in your head.”
According to the report, 64% of millennial buyers who moved in the past year stayed in the same city and just 7% moved to a different state. When buying homes, millennials tend to choose larger properties with higher prices than traditional starter homes, the report found.
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