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38 DEEPENING ROOTS: HOMEBUYERS STEADILY REMAINING IN PLACE LONGER e Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers has collected data since 1985 on the median tenure a seller has remained in their home and the expected tenure for home buyers since 2006. According to a recent post from the National Association of Realtor's Economist Commentaries Blog by Amanda Riggs, homeowners are steadily remaining in their homes longer year-over-year. But what economic factors are influencing this lack of migration? Riggs states that in 1985, the median tenure for sellers remaining in their home was five years. is was the lowest in since data tracking began in the 30-year period. From 1987 to 2008, it was then found that the median tenure for sellers was a steady six years throughout the course of about a 20-year period. Contrary to these findings though, was when the median tenure jumped up one year to seven years for sellers in 1997. Riggs notes that as the U.S. housing market entered a recession, the median tenure for sellers began to rise. is went from seven years in 2009, to eight in 2010, and to nine years in 2011. e data showed though that in 2014, the median tenure for sellers reached an all-time high at 10 years, but came back down to nine the following year. Riggs says that market changes in the last decade are the cause of sellers remaining in their homes longer. is has increased the median number of years in the home by 50 percent more than 20-30 years prior. e report notes that in 2006, first-time and repeat buyers began being asked how long they expected to remain in the home they had just purchased. ose first finding reported that first-time buyers anticipated a median expected tenure of just six years. Repeat homebuyers anticipated nine years. But that bumped up to 10 years in 2007, 12 years in 2009, and then up to 15 years in 2010, where it has remained steady for the past six years. For first-time buyers, the median expected tenure in the home jumped to 10 years in 2008, where it has remained ever since. Riggs says it is no surprise that repeat buyers expect to remain in their home longer than first-time buyers, but that it is interesting, however, to see that first-time buyers in 2006 expected to sell in just six years. In looking forward almost a decade to 2015, first- time buyers expect to sell in almost double the amount of time from those in 2006. THE NEW FACE OF TODAY'S RENTER Women, Caucasians, and those who make less than $50,000 a year make up over half the renters in the United States. ey're also overwhelmingly under 50 years old, according to a massive new study by Zillow into housing trends. e study found that half of all home buyers also considered renting, with about one quarter looking at the option seriously. Millennials were the most likely to consider renting, with 71 percent saying they seriously considered it. irty-seven percent of first-time buyers seriously consider continuing to rent, and 12 percent of repeat buyers are seriously contemplating renting their next home instead of buying it, the report found. Almost 60 percent of renters in the market for a new rental home are also considering buying a place, Zillow reported. About 20 percent are seriously looking to buy and 39 percent casually considering it. is is particularly true for Millennials and members of Generation X (63 percent and 59 percent, respectively). According to Zillow, millennial renters represent a little more than half of all renters (56 percent) and they are most often women (59 percent). Similarly, 61 percent of baby boomer renters are women. Generation X renters represent approximately one in three renters, balanced about equally by gender but more likely to be black than other generations. Nearly a third earn above $75,000 a year, representing the highest proportion of wealthier renters among the generations. Like homeowners, most renters' first preference is to live in a single-family home, Zillow reported. However, 83 percent of renters are unconcerned with finding standalone houses. About half are looking at units in small or mid-sized buildings, and about a third consider townhouses. Millennials are most willing to move into apartment buildings or townhouses. Generation X renters are most interested in single- family home rentals and boomers are most likely to consider living in a duplex or triplex. Regionally, renters in the Southeast and Midwest seek the space afforded by single-family homes, while renters in the expensive and dense Northeast and West look to smaller buildings, sharing a home, or income-restricted options to make the rent more affordable, the report stated. ose in the Southwest appear to seek the amenities of larger rental communities.

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