"These tech-savvy homebuyers -- now in their household formation years -- are intelligent, articulate, detailed and armed with a textbook buyer's market sophistication and mentality. Gen-Y buyres have a distinct advantage wit their intuitive use of the social media and Internet services for instant on-line market research, comparison and analysis. Although most Gen-Yers are entry-level, first-time homebuyers, many of them possess the knowledge of long-term seasoned veteran buyers.
'The aspiration for homeownership is still there, but they also recognize it might take a little longer for them to buy,' said Gary Painter, director of research at the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
According to Doug Perlson, founder and CEO of online real estate firm RealDirect in New York, adults younger than 30 tend to be more conventional than other homebuyers because of the shaky economy they grew to know during their college years.
'In the short-term, many millennials are held back from homeownership because of the need for savings for a down payment and because of tightened credit expectations,' Painter said."