“You’re making the wrong decision.”
That’s what my mom muttered when I moved out of my parents’ house, fresh out of college and ready to take on the world … or at least South Florida.
Of course, she wasn’t telling me that moving out was the wrong decision. My parents were proud I had lined up a job and was able to support myself when so many millennials (those born between 1982 and 2000) were still racked with debt and living at home. They practically shoved me out the door and popped some bubbly.
Instead, they were warning me that renting was the wrong decision. They kept shaking their heads as I excitedly lined up my first apartment.
They wanted me to invest in my future right off the bat, and, let’s be honest, renting an apartment might be nice for the “not being tied down” aspect I touted, but really I’m just throwing money down a hole and waving goodbye to it.
As I’ve wised up over the years (being immersed in our financial publications didn’t hurt), I’ve started considering my first property.
And it seems that other millennials are starting to do the same thing.
In fact, late last year, the National Association of Realtors reported — for the third straight year in a row — that millennials represented the largest single group of home buyers at 35%.
And Fannie Mae just announced that millennials are moving out of their parents’ basements and entering the housing market at a faster rate. That’s precisely why the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index rose to the highest level since 2011, when the survey first started.
It increased 5.6 percentage points in February to a new high of 88.3.
To top it off, although millennials have been known for delaying marriage and parenthood (factors that drive home buying) — that trend is starting to switch up.
According to the recently released 2017 Home Buyer and Seller Generational report, about 50% of millennial homebuyers had at least one child — up from 45% last year and 43% two years ago.
So although homeownership is near a record low, things are clearly shifting. Both buyers and sellers are excited about the housing market. Indeed, Frank Martell, CEO of CoreLogic says, “The spring home buying season is shaping up to be one of the strongest in recent memory.” And millennials are one of the reasons.
And remember, this is only the first wave of millennial home buying. We’re going to see an even larger surge as more millennials (like myself) age into their home buying stages, which is why our millennial trend expert Paul has housing stocks in his crosshairs.
We’re the largest generation in existence, after all. Our habits are the makings of mega trends — and as investors, that’s exactly what we want to be keeping an eye on.
So if you haven’t considered adding housing and construction stocks to your portfolio, now is definitely the time.
If you’re already wise to that opportunity, and you’re interested in the other mega trends on Paul’s radar, I suggest cracking open Paul’s latest research.
He was spot on about the millennial home buying trend, and his new discovery is set to pan out the same way. Just click here to learn more about it.
Catch you next week.
Regards,
Jessica Cohn-Kleinberg
Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing
