What are set to be the biggest buyer trends of 2015, and how can you navigate them?
According to a recent poll of industry insiders, there are three big trends which are expected to be seen in home buying in 2015. So what are they? What do they mean for real estate agents, investors, and businesses? What impact will this all have for regular home buyers and sellers?
Millennials
Data shows that 90 million millennials are out there, accounting for as much as 40% of the real estate market. Many have already been heavily engaged in real estate investments, home buying, and launching technology based real estate startups. While many expected millennials to shun real estate after the recent crises, most are surprisingly bullish, even if they haven’t acted with their wallets yet. If anything, millennials are more confident. They are more knowledgeable about housing cycles and the various factors involved. Subsequently, they are better armed with data than any generation before.
Millennials may have slightly different interior design tastes than older generations, but that’s nothing new. Professionals just need to design and stage homes and apartments according to their most likely prospects.
What is notable when it comes to marketing to millennials for real estate professionals is that the data shows they switch between so many more devices and mediums in such short periods of time. There’s TV, tablets, smartphones and desktops or laptops, and outdoors. Staying in front of mind, and ingraining branding, now often requires a strong cross platform approach.
International Buyers
International buyers will be one of the biggest forces in the U.S. house buying market in 2015. For insiders, this probably won’t be too much different to last year. Around 80% of global investors said they were upping their stake in U.S. real estate. It has performed well for them, and continues to offer the best rates, bargains, and growth potential.
The level of investment from different countries may change slightly in 2015, due to fluctuations in foreign markets. Expect two main types of international buyers this year: those that are seeing wealth and income rise abroad and are just naturally expanding their holdings, and those whose markets are looking frothy and want to secure assets. With this in mind, low oil prices could see another rush of Canadian investment and second home purchases over the next 12 months.
As more real estate professionals increasingly ramp up to market to these buyers, it is likely those which build the best relationships, have solid long term follow up, and which engage prospective overseas buyers earliest in the process are the biggest winners.
International buyers may find that they find the best deals and lock in the most value by going outside the box and not competing with other foreign buyers who are often willing to pay top dollar, or pump up prices because they are satisfied with low yields. For example; choosing San Diego instead of San Francisco, or Connecticut instead of New York.
Mobile
Mobile is already big. 90% of home searches have begun online, and now over 60% of them are via mobile devices. We’ll rapidly see this gap closed to the vast majority beginning on mobile devices, and going mobile only.
The good news for consumers and home buyers is that real estate companies, agents and investment firms are becoming much better with this technology. They are serving up more effective and higher quality mobile designs and tools.
For real estate agents, investors, and other related industry companies, there is really no more room to slack. These independent professionals and firms need mobile responsive sites, need to connect in a way which is effective for on the go buyers searching from mobile devices, and need to be able to respond accordingly.
At the same time, this could leave some space for marketing to those on desktops who are being ignored in the mobile rush.
