When it comes to selling your home (or anything really), it helps to know your buyer so you can know what features to highlight in order to close the deal.
This year, buyers 36 or younger (aka Millennials) are the largest group of buyers at 34%, and 66% of these are also first time buyers. 66% are also married, and 49% have young kids at home. It looks like those rebellious millennials finally settled down and are on a more traditional path. These buyers start their search online, stating that photographs are the most important feature that entices them to see a house. On average, they look for homes for 10 weeks and see about 10 different houses before making a purchase. The majority are looking for single family detached homes (83%) that were previously owned (86%) with an average size of 1,900 square feet, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, built around 1991. For almost all buyers (60%), the quality of neighborhood is an important factor in deciding on a home purchase. For millennials, the three most important factors were convenience to job (65%), affordability (50%), and school district (35%).
So basically, if you have a previously owned detached single family home in a good school district within a close proximity to jobs and amenities, your buyer is likely to be a 36 year old first-time buyer who is married with young kids. You want to highlight your home’s family friendly features so they can imagine fun family dinners, building snowmen in the yard, lazy summer days lounging.
The second largest group of buyers is Generation X, between the ages of 37-51. They make up about 28% of the market, have the highest incomes, are mostly married, and most still have kids under 18 at home. Their home choices are driven by commute and quality of schools, followed by heating and cooling costs. They still want single family detached homes with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, but their median size was larger at 2100 square feet and they tended to be more expensive.
Data in this infographic comes from the 2017 Home Buyer & Seller Generational Trends report.
Source: Infographic: Home Buyer & Seller Generational Trends 2017 | nar.realtor
