Generation Y, the demographic group born between 1977 and 1994 (although experts vary on the specific years) isn’t quite as large as the 78 million Baby Boomers, but it remains an influential group of consumers. And even though younger people traditionally do most of the moving, Gen Y might be an exception.
“For one thing, they’re closer to parents than previous generations,” says Cheryl Russell, editorial director of New Strategist Publications Ithaca, N.Y., which publishes demographic and consumer spending reference books.
“When Boomers went to college, they were trying to get away from their parents. That doesn’t seem the case with Gen Y. There’s not as much of a generation gap between Boomers and their children.”
Economics is another factor, for Gen Y is encountering a difficult job market. “The top 20 percent will do well,” says John McIlwain, senior fellow at the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “Yet the majority of emerging jobs are lower-paying ones while housing prices continue to rise. That’s OK if you’re already in the housing market, but it’s going to affect younger people who are trying to move into the market. Even with low interest rates and generous terms, living at home longer will become more prevalent, along with delaying marriage.”
In other countries, high housing costs have been a deterrent for young people to move out and form their own households, McIlwain adds: “As our housing becomes less affordable, we’re going to start mirroring Europeans . . . This will be the first time in our country’s history where a generation of American will not experience themselves living better than their parents, which is a radically different situation.”
