Two years ago, everyone was talking about the millennial buyer.
Granted, millennials are the biggest pool of buyers. As the largest generation in prime homebuying years, it’s easy to understand why so many agents focus on them.
But I want to remind you where the money is—especially in today’s market.
If you want to increase your price point and work with people in your community with a bigger budget, you need to shift your focus to baby boomers.
Baby Boomers Own the Wealth
There are 76.4 million baby boomers in the U.S. Collectively, they control $71 trillion—or one-seventh of the world’s wealth. And while millennials’ wealth has more than doubled since the start of the pandemic, they own substantially less than boomers at $9 trillion.
According to Bloomberg, several factors have contributed to the wealth gap millennials face when compared to how many assets boomers had at mid-life:
- Increased cost of college and student loan debt
- The timing of the Great Recession occurred as millennials were entering the workforce
- The increased cost of homeownership
These factors have made it more difficult for millennials to build wealth, making it more challenging to become homeowners. Many millennials feel that buying (or upsizing) is still out of reach when you factor in today’s inflation and mortgage rates.
So, while millennials outnumber boomers, they don’t have the same financial flexibility to buy and sell real estate.
The baby boomers won’t feel the impact of inflation nearly as much, because they’ve already amassed their wealth. So over the next 18 months, if you want to work with people doing real estate deals, switch your focus to baby boomers.
Financial Flexibility Equals Opportunities
In today’s market, it’s crucial to work with buyers who are committed to the market. With higher interest rates and inflation, many buyers are either backing out—or worse—waiting for a market crash.
We know that real estate deals will continue to happen due to lifestyle needs. Boomers have the financial flexibility to make moves. They have the flexibility to downsize, to get a condo, to sell a second house, to buy a third house, whatever the case is. They will be the ones making the most moves, while other generations will struggle more with affordability.
With that financial flexibility, comes a greater chance that deals will actually go through to closing. Plus, as many boomers already own real estate, they are buying and selling at a higher price point than millennials.
Right now, we have a huge opportunity to market to baby boomers. The rest of the world doesn’t have that opportunity.
So, while all the buzz is on millennials, I’d be going all in on boomers.
How will you market to baby boomers next year?
