Who would have thought that nine out of ten digitally native Gen Z homebuyers would prefer to work with a real estate agent rather than an iBuyer when ready to purchase a home? Certainly not David Mele, president of Homes.com. His company recently surveyed more than 1,000 young adults ages 18 to 24-years-old on their buyer preferences.
“These results were a surprise,” said Mele. “Gen-Zers have never known a world without digital connectivity, have all the information at their fingertips and they are saying that the quality of a real estate agent and their ability to understand what they want are more important…” than technical tools.
Such results fly in the face of assumptions that young adults will buy homes with technically powered services or go it along. This demographic group points to specific agent qualities as being most important:
- 27.1% – understanding what I want
- 18.1% – expertise about the local market
- 9.1% – excellent negotiating skills
Another surprising statistic from this Homes.com study indicates that 86% of Gen-Zers want to own a home before turning 35 years old rather than being foot loose and fancy free as a mobile nomad.
Gen-Zers see the top barriers to home homeownership as being making enough money to buy a home (42%), saving enough to make a down payment (21%) and student loan debt (20%). The vast majority of Gen-Zers (64%) believe they will have to pay 11% or more of the purchase price of a home as a down payment while 25% anticipate having to save for a down payment of 20%.
Mele believes that all real estate professionals “…have to work to do in educating Gen-Zers about what it takes to own a home. They are setting a higher bar than they actually need to cover.”
According to Mele, the average first-time buyer puts down 6%-7% and the average down payment across all buyers equals 5.3% of the purchase price.
