No McMansions for millennials

The housing preferences of Generation Y — the approximately 80 million Americans born between 1980 and the early 2000s — were the subject of panel discussions at the International Home Builders' Show in Orlando, Florida, report S. Mitra Kalita and Robbie Whelan in a blog for The Wall Street Journal.

"A key finding: They want to walk everywhere. Surveys show that 13% carpool to work, while 7% walk, said Melina Duggal, a principal with Orlando-based real estate adviser RCLCO. A whopping 88% want to be in an urban setting, but since cities themselves can be so expensive, places with shopping, dining and transit such as Bethesda and Arlington in the Washington suburbs will do just fine."

“'One-third are willing to pay for the ability to walk,' Ms. Duggal said. 'They don’t want to be in a cookie-cutter type of development. …The suburbs will need to evolve to be attractive to Gen Y.'”

"Outdoor space is important—but please, just a place to put the grill and have some friends over. Lawn-mowing not desired."

David Senden, residential designer for KTGY Group, was another speaker at the Home Show. 

"Places to congregate are more important than a big apartment, [Senden] cautioned. He showed one layout of a studio apartment—350 square feet, as big as Mom and Dad’s Great Room. Common space has migrated to 'club rooms,' he said, where Gen-Y residents can host meals and hang out before heading to a common movie-screening room or rooftop swimming pool that they share with the building’s other tenants."

Young people's preferences are affected by their earning power, which has been dampened by the so-called Great Recession. On that topic:

“'Not too many college grads can afford a lot of space in the city,' he said. 'Think lots of amenities with little tiny units—and a lot of them to keep (fees) down. …The things these places are doing is constantly coordinating activities. The residents get to know each other and it makes for a much livelier and friendlier environment.'”