Baby boomer and the generations that came before them worked hard for every single dime they had thereby fueling the creation of the American dream. However, the idea of a nuclear family — complete with 2.5 kids, a housewife (not one from reality tv), and a dog — in addition to a home in the suburbs has slowly become a thing of the past. The nuclear family has been replaced by blended families, and the home in the suburbs has given way to luxury apartment rentals.
Why the change? Americans attitudes towards family, housing, and what it means to be successful have dramatically changed. The Great Recession only compounded these changing views, as thousands of Americans lost their home in the suburbs as a result of widespread company layoffs and bank foreclosures. While both the job and real estate markets have shown significant signs of improvement — even thriving in some areas — Americans are still wary. In fact, they’ve gotten used to carving their own path.
As a result, home ownership rates are the lowest they’ve been since before the Recession as more and more people are choosing to rent luxury apartments in both metropolitan and suburban areas. For millennials crushed under thousands of dollars of student loan debt, home ownership just isn’t in the card for them and may never be. As such, they choose to rent lofts and apartments are more than happy to do so.
The Recession caused many people to look inwards in terms of career success, and so the solopreneur was born. Workers reinvented themselves, both telecommuting and moving to areas where high paying jobs were plentiful. As such, the idea of being tied down to mortgage became less and less attractive, and many chose to rent luxury apartments instead. This is especially true of millennials, who move more frequently than any other group. For them, as with many others, renting a loft apartment provides them with flexibility to move when they choose without having to commit to a decades long financial contract.
However, don’t let the word luxury fool you. Many choose to rent luxury apartments due to their affordability. On average, the cost of renting an apartment is more affordable than owning a home, as repairs are covered under the lease contract by the landlord or property management company. Capitalizing off this trend, developers are quickly erecting new luxury city apartments in order to keep up with demand.
Like Jeffersons did back in the day, isn’t it about time you moved on up to that deluxe apartment in the sky?