Walkability top of the list for millennial homebuyers

It’s Friday and we’re all heading into a weekend, so I want to keep this post a bit light and bright. So here’s a couple of fun stats on home ownership, including the importance of walkability to a millennial homebuyer and why you don’t quite feel like an adult until you own your own home. Where possible, I’ve linked to the original data/source.

Pass on the wedding

According to a Redfin survey, 38% of millennials (those between the ages of 18 and 34) said they’d rather put off a wedding in favour of buying a home. The main reason, according to analytics and research firm CoreLogic: buying a new home is getting more and more expensive, but so are weddings. In 2014, the average wedding cost was just under US$30,000 (or for those that want to know precisely: US$29,858). Apparently, we’re a bit more modest in Canada as a recent BMO Investorline survey reported that the average Canadian wedding cost $18,150. But that’s still a chunk of change. Perhaps that’s why more than a third of millennials consider walking across a threshold rather than walking down the aisle a more sensible financial choice.

Millennials like to walk

Millennials prefer walking over driving. No. They really prefer walking over driving. According to a recent poll conducted by the National Association of Realtors and the Transportation Research and Education Center, 83% of home buying millennials liked to walk while only 71% like to drive. This 12 percentage point difference is a lot wider than other demographic groups, for instance the spread for baby boomers is only 2% between walking and driving. When millennials are not walking they’re probably taking transit—40% of millennials take transit, compared to 28% for Gen-X and 19% for baby boomers.

An adult at age 29

According to a study by U.K. firm Fly Research, most millennials don’t feel like an adult until age 29. The research was an initiative by Beagle Street Life insurance to understand what variable people associated with adulthood. According to survey responses, the primary reason for feeling like an adult is home ownership, while the biggest reason for not feeling like an adult was being financially dependent on parents. According to the Fly Research study, the top 10 reasons to feel like an adult are: 1) Buying a home (64%) 2) Having kids (63%) 3) Getting married (52%) 4) Having a pension (29%) 5) Being in charge of your home’s curb appeal and decor (22%) 6) Buying life insurance (21%) 7) Getting excited about staying in for the night (21%) 8) Completing DIY work (18%) 9) Throwing a dinner party (18%) 10) Opening a joint bank account (17%) Read more from Romana King at Home Owner on Facebook »