Housing preferences: How generations differ

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently released the results of a recent survey, Housing Preferences of the Boomer Generation: How They Compare to Other Home Buyers.

“This survey is a great resource for building professionals, as it provides an inside look at the things boomers, and other generations, are looking for in today’s homes,” said NAHB’s Assistant Vice President for Survey Research Rose Quint in a press release. Quint is also one of the study’s authors. “As the housing market continues to recover, more consumers are in the position to purchase a home, and it’s important for builders to have this knowledge about their customers,” she added.

Getting into the results, 65 percent of buyers of all generations prefer single-family detached homes. In accordance, the majority of boomers, 63 percent, said that’s the type of home they’d like.

While the majority, 64 percent, of home buyers prefer a single-story home, that’s mostly thanks to baby boomers (75 percent) and seniors (88 percent).  Only a third of millennials and less than half of generation X preferred a single-story home.

Within the home, more than half of home buyers want a basement, either full or partial. However, it’s mostly millennials (77 percent) and generation X (67 percent). Only half of baby boomers and 43 percent of seniors prefer a basement.

Living rooms are a must-have for most buyers. Only 37 percent said they would buy a house without a living room. Forty-two percent said they wouldn’t, and 21 percent weren’t sure. Millennials are the most likely to buy a home without a living room, with 43 percent agreeing to it. Forty percent of generation X would, 37 percent of baby boomers and only 26 percent of seniors would forego the living room.

The majority of home buyers, two-thirds, prefer to live in the suburbs, about a quarter prefer rural areas, and only 8 percent prefer the city.
Only 14 percent of buyers would pay more for a home out of “pure concern for the environment.”

NAHB conducted this survey nationwide of recent and prospective home buyers in 2015.