Demographics, Home Size, CRM: Who's Buying the Biggest Homes?

Today's new home marketplace can be thought of as a made up of a series of age-related buyer segments : boomers, millennials and Generation X'ers to name the most recognized.

Millennials are largest segment; Gen X'ers are buying largest homes!

Millennials are re-visiting previously developed home preferences, says Clare Trapasso in a recent Realtor.com article, as they're leaving the "fantasy, pace and possibilities" of big-city living and moving out to the suburbs.

Yes, the "burbs", and that's just the first of a series of major changes being noticed in the new home marketplace.

Another is the changing relationship between buyer demographic groups and home size. Today, Gen X'ers (generally thought of as those with birth years between 1965 and 1985) are buying the largest homes. They're the most likely to have children, with schools as "top of mind" and often have their parents living with them, as well.

While the average Gen X'er home is 2,200 square feet, Millennials typically purchased 1,720 square foot residences.  Boomers were in the 1,800-1,920 range with the larger homes going to younger Boomer buyers.  Jonathon Smoke, chief economist at realtor.com, notes that "older boomers are trying to downsize."

Of course, home size varies by regional price points.  The relationship between size and demographic group remains constant, however.

What does this have to do with CRM?  A good CRM system allows you to "slice and dice" information so you're able to associate profile information with individual prospects and then search through your database, using software tools, to locate those prospects meeting specific criteria.  Do you have more of your largest floorplan units available?  Consider creating a demographic-specific search and develop a followup email focused on home size -- highlighting local schools and suggesting alternative uses for extra bedrooms!

CPS•CRM features customized prospect profiles; we can show you how to slice and dice data to market effectively!