Dive Brief:
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Four in 10 millennials have moved to a new city as "vacation movers" — residents not intending to live there permanently — according to the 2017 Mayflower Mover Insights Study. The moving and storage company found that more than half of the generational cohort (53%) said they were likely to make such a move within the next five years.
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Nearly three-quarters of millennials (74%) reported moving to a new city with intent to move away again within a set timeframe. When asked their motive for doing so, 40% cited an employment opportunity, 30% wanted "a new lifestyle or experience" and 26% said they did it to find a job.
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More millennials are choosing urban cores than are opting for rural areas, with 81% of survey respondents ages 30 to 35 reporting that they currently live in a large city or nearby suburb — the five most popular cities being San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Seattle and Chicago.
Dive Insight:
While a move may be in the forecast for many millennials, fewer North Americans, overall, relocated in 2016. Moving company Atlas Van Lines found that the number of interstate and interprovince moves in the U.S. and Canada totaled 75,427, down from 77,705 in 2015. And according to Zillow’s latest Group Report on Consumer Housing Trends, two-thirds of millennial homebuyers who relocated in the past year stayed local. When millennials do relocate to a new city or town, it’s largely because many do not own homes and are moving in search of employment.
As that demographic ages and finds job security, however, they are expected to buy homes. Many already say they want to. A recent survey of 1,000 millennials in the U.S. by Meyers Research found that more than half (55%) are planning to buy a home within the next five years, with 30% expecting to own within three years and 25% saying they were three to five years away from homeownership.
Millennials are expected to account for one-third of homebuyers in the coming year, despite facing challenges from rising home prices, limited inventory and financial barriers like student debt that make finding a home and saving up for a down payment a challenge.
Though the Mayflower data suggests millennials are flocking to big cities, other data suggest that many are moving to the suburbs, or already live there, in pursuit of lower housing costs.
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