Gen X home buyers make their presence known

Julie Janovsky
Special to Newsday
Aug. 28, 2007 12:00 AM

MELVILLE, N.Y. -- Viviene Davis knows exactly what she wants her first home to look like.

The 36-year-old legal secretary is seeking a three-bedroom house on the south shore of Long Island, N.Y., with a large yard and big kitchen where she and her fiance and two daughters can entertain family and friends.

"My dream kitchen would have granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances, cherry-wood finish cabinets and a nice island with drawers," Davis says.

Her preferences make house hunting easy for her real estate agent, Daphnee Doresca of Century 21 Laffey in Westbury, N.Y.

Doresca says that type of precision is common among her Gen X clients.

"Gen Xers are motivated consumers. They know what they want," Doresca says, explaining that by the time these customers come in to meet with her, they've already spent time researching properties online.

The generation once prophesied by the media to be a group of cynical slackers has grown up to become a dominant force in the real estate market. The term Gen X -- for those born between 1965 and 1977 -- was coined in the early 1990s by author Douglas Coupland, referring to the then-"20-something"-aged generation following the baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964).

Gen X and their younger Gen Y counterparts (those born from the early 1980s to the late 1990s) are making a strong presence in the home-buying market. Research for the National Association of Realtors shows that 51 percent of recent first-time buyers were between 25 and 34 years old. This group represents 30 percent of all buyers and 18 percent of repeat buyers.

Gen Xers, now between 30 and 42, are spending more of their income on their first homes than their boomer counterparts and are starting to replace the baby boomers as the demographic doing the most remodeling, according to industry reports.

But Gen Xers have been making their mark on the industry in their own way.

When it comes to acquiring real estate, many look at their first home purchase as an investment, while boomers often bought their first homes as a result of a life change, such as marriage, according to a survey conducted by marketing research firm International Communications Research on behalf of Century 21.

The online survey of more than 1,500 home buyers also found Gen X buyers are spending more for their first homes than the baby boomers did: 25 percent of their household income compared to 20 percent for the boomers. And though price was a key concern among boomers when they bought their first homes, their Gen X counterparts are more concerned about commuting time to and from work, according to the report.

Census Bureau statistics for the second quarter of 2007 show that homeownership rates were at their highest for those ages 55 to 64 (80.6 percent) and those 65 and older (80.5 percent). The rate for those 45 to 54 was 75.5 percent, while the rate for those ages 35 to 44 was 67.6 percent. The rate for those younger than 35 was 41.9 percent.

Ten years ago, homeownership rates were also at their highest for those ages 55 to 64, at 80.6 percent; the rate for those ages 45 to 54 was 53 percent, while the rate for those ages 35 to 44 was 42 percent and for those ages 25 to 34 the rate was 41 percent.

When it comes to buying their homes, "Gen Xers have acted more on emotion than baby boomers," says John Lessler of the Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate office in Miller Place, N.Y., adding, "if they see something they love, they will jump on it."

Gen Xers also are fast becoming an attractive demographic to remodelers. "As the baby boomers age and eventually taper off their spending, members of Gen X, already active remodelers, will greatly influence the size and scope of the home improvement industry," reports Amal Bendimerad, a research analyst at Harvard University's Joint Center For Housing Studies, who worked on the 2005 report "Understanding Generational Differences in Home Remodeling Behavior."

The fact that boomers as a whole overshadow the number of Gen Xers doesn't seem to matter. Bendimerad says Gen X differs from preceding generations because of its "high incidence of late-forming households and dual-income homes."

And more single Gen Xers own homes compared to single boomers at the same age, according to Bendimerad's study. For example, never-married Gen X females, he says, have homeownership rates more than 40 percent higher than never-married female baby boomers when they were of comparable ages in 1983.

In terms of style, Gen Xers want an open, flowing floor plan, says Glen Head, N.Y., architect and Gen Xer Paul Pellicani, who helped clients Christina and Rodger King transform their ranch home six years ago.

"It was perfect as far as the neighborhood, layout and overall square footage, but there were walls everywhere. Everything stopped you in your tracks," says Christina King, 38, a sales representative for a commercial wall-covering distributor.

She and Rodger, 40, a project manager who designs corporate fitness centers, realized they were going to have to create an open floor plan that was conducive to entertaining.

After about five months of remodeling, Pellicani's redesign materialized into a cathedral ceiling and skylight in the kitchen, a pass-through window between the kitchen and dining room and a large opening to the den.

"It was a dramatic change," King said. "We needed to create what we wanted."

Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service

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