Money-making millennials are now buying into luxury real estate. The new high net worth buyer is younger, tech-smart, savvy, and influencing the market.
“The demographics of the buyer market is changing," says top-producing Hamptons broker, Matthew Breitenbach. "There’s younger money in the market." Successful millennials have the cash and are buying their first homes for millions of dollars.
His observation is replicated on a wider scale throughout the United States.
In Los Angeles, they're looking at work-live-play environments, like Hollywood Hills or the snazzy Bird Streets neighborhood in Beverly Hills, according to Connie Blankenship, director of luxury estates for Douglas Elliman. Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), a company that provides commercial real estate services for corporations and investors, reveals that millennials outnumber baby boomers by 10 percent in downtown Los Angeles in a consumer market.
In New York, the neighborhoods of Tribeca, the West Village, Greenwich Village, and the Upper East Side are the hot spots for high-end living. In the Hamptons, says Breitenbach, “They love the Malibu vibe and more dynamic, modern homes.” They are trendy, urban, modern, and sleek. Millennials look for a place to reboot while working in the city.
They also want to live near the cafes, restaurants, and bars that they frequent.
Think of houses with top-floor terraces for serving wine, high ceilings, plenty of space for their modern art collection, and offices for remote work. “The younger generations are workaholics,” says Edward de Mallet Morgan, a partner with Knight Frank’s international residential team, “Access and technology play a major role in all of this.”
Dolly Lenz, owner of Dolly Lenz Luxury Real Estate, says that in New York City, she’s seen young buyers adding a small kitchen off the master bedroom, where they can pour themselves their morning coffee, instead of slumping down to the kitchen to do so, according to Mansion Global.
Buyers tend to star in the fields of tech, music, entertainment, or sports, or they represent some glitzy family fortune. They're willing to take on major renovation and are able to bide it out to get what they want. Past young buyers sought ready furnished homes; these aim to customize their own and will only move in once they're satisfied.
This new breed of buyer not only changes the landscape but also alters business patterns. In the past, agents resorted to traditional marketing schemes to attract affluent investors. Today, they use social media platforms, such as Instagram, WhatsApp, and Pinterest, and are forced to blog and update websites in order to retain their competitive edge.
Maybe, the hardest challenge of all is that today’s millennial buyer is no walk-over. The YouGov 2016 Affluent Perspective Global Study states that when it come to upscale real estate, high-quality workmanship, and luxury, today’s millennials know it all.
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