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Generation Gaps

Where are young people buying? Realtor.com conducted a study of their online traffic [1] by age group to see who was buying where, and found that younger age groups, between the ages of 25 and 34, prefer the urban centers, while older groups seem to be moving out.

By city, Salt Lake City is the most popular city to move to for 25 to 34 year olds, due in part to its strong housing market. Realtor.com expects Salt Lake City home prices and sales expected to reach 4.5 percent and 4.6 percent growth, respectively, over last year.

In addition, Salt Lake City attracts younger buyers [2] such as millennials with new job opportunities, with an expected 9 percent growth in GDP over the year, and employment growing at 3.6 percent year-over-year.

Realtor.com reports that in addition to Salt Lake City, many western and southern cities are leading the charge in home sales. Tulsa, OK; Little Rock, AR.; Dallas; and Charlotte, NC are expected to increase their sales by 6 percent this year, beating the national average. With these strong markets, millennials are sure to follow. Realtor.com expects millennials to make up 43 percent of homebuyers by the end of 2018.

Other popular areas for 25 to 34 year olds include Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI, Columbus, OH, Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN, Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA. Top areas for 35-44 year olds in addition to Salt Lake City include Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, New Orleans-Metairie, LA, Austin-Round Rock, TX, Raleigh, NC.

By contrast, older age groups are moving to suburbs. According to Archana Pradhan [3], Senior Professional Economist for CoreLogic, Generation X homebuyers accounted for potential homebuyers in suburban jurisdictions of Maryland and Virginia. The 55+ group preferred cities such as Albuquerque and Tucson. Other popular cities include Pittsburgh, PA, Knoxville, TN, Richmond, VA.