Here’s some good news for those readers who already own a piece of the Brooklyn pie: There’s likely to be strong demand for your apartment or house for many years to come. When your kids leave for college in 5, 10 or 15 years, the likely buyer of your brownstone will be a member of Generation Y, those now-under-30 young adults currently occupying the lower rungs of the working world. According to a recent post on the Better Cities blog, this generation rejects the suburban lifestyles they were raised in. “Generation Y wants to be more connected and less isolated than previous generations”, writes Nathan Norris. “They manifest this desire in their full-on embrace of social media and their desire to live in places where they can be around others; i.e., the densest, most active, areas of cities.” Gen Y isn’t the only factor driving the secular trend: Others include an aging population, higher energy costs and public school reform. “Just as cities were not completely abandoned in the 20th century, suburbs will not be abandoned in the 21st century,” the article concludes. “But the shift in preferences is clearly underway, and this radical change will manifest itself in the nature of real estate development over the next 20 years.”
Gen Y Causing the Great Migration of the 21st Century [Better Cities]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. “our long-term future will likely feature substantially higher energy costs”

    i believe our future will experience a few leaps in technology and energy costs will plummet. we just haven’t had the necessity so there hasn’t been the invention.

  2. “our long-term future will likely feature substantially higher energy costs”

    i believe our future will experience a few leaps in technology and energy costs will plummet. we just haven’t had the necessity so there hasn’t been the invention.