Millennial Demand Is Escalating Home Prices in Kid-Friendly Neighborhoods

Home values are rising quickly in ZIP codes with a larger share of children younger than 18 as Millennials seek out neighborhoods that meet the needs of their growing families, Zillow reports. Over the next two years, more Millennials will reach the peak home buying age of 32 than ever before, driving up demand for homes with family-friendly features.

Starting in 2013, house prices in family-friendly ZIP codes have outpaced empty-nester and adult-oriented neighborhoods at an increasing rate, and as more Millennials expand their families in the coming years, price growth is intensifying.

Many factors are reliably associated with increased home values, including completing simple home improvement projects like upgrading lights and installing new faucets, or mentioning kid-friendly features in the real estate listing, or being within close proximity of Starbucks. Zillow Research recently published a brief showing that homeowners in low-income ZIP codes have enjoyed faster house price growth, but this tendency is disappearing.

Family-friendly neighborhoods will maintain these higher valuations for a generation as Millennials raise their kids and advance in their careers before eventually passing the child-rearing baton to Generation Z, a much smaller cohort. During this time, local municipalities can spread the wealth by adding family-friendly facilities such as parks, playgrounds and schools to ZIP codes that currently lack these amenities.

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