Developers Give Gen Y What They Want
Urban Land
By Patricia Kirk
Most economists agree that home sales will remain in a slump for at least the next few years, but demand for apartments is accelerating. This trend is expected to continue over the next decade, due largely to the echo boom generation's (Echo Boomers) coming of age and entering the rental market.
...Gary Painter, an economist at the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate, says Echo Boomers face conditions unlike those prevailing at any other time in modern history, which are driving their choices. For example, they will have to change careers, not just jobs, one or more times during their lifetimes. Their circumstances require the flexibility that renting provides, points out Courtney Steeple, president of Project Management for Santa Barbara-based Towbes Group, Inc., a residential developer on California's central coast. "They must go where the jobs are. Renting makes sense because they don't know where they'll be in a few years."