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housing futures

2014 – A changing market

Q2 2017

‘Housing Futures – How the market is changing’, outlines the fundamentals of how the UK housing market evolution by assessing the four cornerstones of property; demography, lifestyle, location, and finance.

Vanessa_Hale_B99972_BNP_018

Vanessa Hale

Director, Research

+44 20 7318 4675

Housing Futures uncovers creeping trends (slow trends that make a noticeable impact and almost invisibly evolve markets over extended periods of time) such as:

  • Gen Y (a common reference for those born between 1978 and 1995) will be willing to live in private rental for longer, if not for their lifetime.
  • Future housing types and location decisions are being altered by access to technology.
  • Traditional family structures are no longer the norm, and there is a resurgence in alternative housing needs.

New tribes are a consequence of these shifts:

  • The Waltons – The multigenerational household or the ‘3G household’ are the group who live in an alternative family structure – possibly adult children, parents and carers.
  • MEcos – Are all about ‘ME’. They show a strong affinity to being healthy and put their wellbeing at a premium. They work in places that respect their views and want their homes to reflect the same.
  • My-Sizers – Are simply those who are looking to rightsize. Whether that is to find a small garden with a big house or a big garden with a small house, or no garden at all! They also may wish to liquidate capital from their existing home. Something we refer to as the 4Ss: shrinking to share, save and spend.
  • GloMads – This tribe is more than likely young, footloose, individuals who don’t own a lot of things. They live off of their smartphones and the city that they choose to live in for the minute becomes their living room.
  • Tumbleweeders – Are the under-occupiers, defined as those who have two more rooms than household occupants, for example, a couple in a three bedroom home.

Evolving tribes require new housing solutions:

  • Yo-yo House – is a home that can grow and contract based on household occupants needs.
  • HEAL Home – Healthy Eating Active Living – is all about a home that supports healthy living. Whether that is through minimising toxins in the air through low-voc paint or to gaining benefits from bringing nature indoors. It supports fitness and nutrition and likely involves the ability to grow your own fruit and veg.
  • Micro Mansions –If you can imagine a well fitted out yacht – then envision it shrunk to the size of no more than 250sqft, that is a micro mansion. It is for those who prioritise location over space.
  • Private Rented Sector (PRS) – now more commonly referred to in the property sector as the Build to Rent (BTR) market. This is large-scale private property companies and estates offering security of tenure to tenants and is a growing market throughout the UK.
  • Platinum Places – Are the new mixed age and tenure communities with good access to amenities that are part of a town/edge of city that broadly, but not exclusively, support those seeking to downsize.

Read the full report here.