Gen X May Lead Home Buying Recovery

Washington, DC, March 18, 2011 -- Generation X--young families and adults ages 31 to 45-- are likely to lead the home buying recovery as it gets underway, according to real estate experts.
 
These potential home buyers are most likely to think it's a good time to get off the fence, and they have strong opinions about the design features their new homes will include.
 
At 32 percent of the population of home-buying age, the Gen X population cohort isn't the largest, but it's the most mobile, said presenter Mollie Carmichael, principal of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif.

"They are in full force with their careers and they need to accommodate growing families," she said.
 
In contrast, even though they constitute 41 percent of prospective home buyers, Baby Boomers continue to wait for the market to improve, and their decisions to delay retirement also delay their decisions to downsize into a smaller home, Carmichael said.
 
Most of the 10,000 buyers and potential buyers in 27 metro areas that the consulting company surveyed were optimistic about a new home purchase, with between 85 percent and 89 percent saying that it was a good time to buy a home.

Only 13 percent said they thought home prices would continue to fall, further evidence that it's "not all about price," she said. "They want something compelling, from a design or personalization standpoint," said Carmichael.
 
In addition, though the average home size is shrinking, a majority of prospective buyers said they would like a bigger home than the one they have. "These are first-time buyers or younger families looking for more room to grow," she said.