It appears that millennials don’t just want to get by — they want to enjoy the best creature comforts they can afford. This desire for a luxurious abode could be partly driven by increased time spent at home during the pandemic, which has raised the desirability of more spacious, lavish homes.
32% or almost 1 in 3 of the millennials surveyed by Propertyguru had their sights set on purchasing a luxury property in the long run, with 66% indicating that such property would be a dependable long-term investment.
Other reasons for wanting to buy luxury property included convenience (cited by 42%), privacy (cited by 38%), social status (cited by 30%), and facilities (cited by 29%).
As millennials enter their thirties and forties, their attitudes towards housing, influenced by the pandemic, have the potential to reshape the housing market. Singapore millennials show a strong inclination towards homeownership, with 71% prioritising saving up for a home, up by 2% from the previous quarter.
The pandemic might have heightened the drive to own a home, especially for those who still live with their parents and now desire greater privacy and more space due to more time being spent working and relaxing at home.
This trend is by no means restricted to Singapore. Bloomberg reported that millennials, who represent 38% of the home buyers in America, have had a later start than the previous generation when entering the property market, but are aiming for higher-end homes as a first property purchase.
"In the past, young people bought a modest property, lived in it until starting a family, and then traded up to a larger property. Millennials are changing the property landscape, it’s now common to see a millennial purchasing a multimillion-dollar luxury home for their first property purchase as a first time homebuyer." said Kiwi Lim from real estate agency Huttons Asia "I believe very soon, millennials will become a dominant force in high-end real estate"