Watching Millenials

In the News  

Presented by Prairie Title            
Commentary by Frank Pellegrini, Prairie Title CEO  

What’s the key word in real estate for 2015? Without a doubt, it has to be: millenials. The way forward in residential real estate, as it has been with generations before, is through potential buyers in their 20s and 30s who were on the sidelines for many reasons in recent years. But that trend is changing.

The 2015 National Association of REALTORS® Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends study, released March 11, found that the millennial generation represented the largest share of recent buyers in 2014. This was the second consecutive year that NAR’s study found that the largest group of recent buyers was millenials, who comprised 32 percent of all buyers in 2014 and 31 percent in 2013. Millennial buyers represented more than double the amount of Baby Boomer buyers.

The sheer number of millenials (15 million more than baby boomers) dictates that we pay close attention to their preferences for doing business as they move strongly into the home purchase market. And take heart, agents, surveys show that millenials used agents for 90 percent of their home purchases in 2014, the largest percentage among all age groups. Source: Goldman Sachs

Shifting gears, it was heartening to read the findings of Fannie Mae’s first quarter lender sentiment survey. In a nutshell, Fannie found that lenders are optimistic about 2015. The headline from Fannie’s press release said it all: “Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey Results Show Optimistic Mortgage Demand and Profit Outlook with Gradual Credit Easing; Data Support Forecast for Modest Housing Expansion in 2015.” Sounds great to me!

Other stories we’re following:        

Single family and multifamily spending increase?
Problems with new Mortgage Disclosure Forms.
On the commercial front.
Freddie: Best year for housing in eight years.

Let’s keep the conversation going. Call me at 708-386-7900, or send me an email: frank@prairietitle.com.