What Are the Cool Towns Doing?

Forbes delves deeper into one of the emerging real estate trends identified by a recent report released by the Urban Land Institute and PwC.

Hipsturbia is a movement where downtown residents are trading in their environs for suburbs but rather than settling just for a house with the white picket fence, they’re choosing communities that have active centers with cool restaurants, entertainment, and similar attractions that they enjoyed while living in city centers.

“Cool” suburban communities have active centers of town. They’re often near large anchor communities, like New York City, San Francisco and Chicago. Popular hipsturbia destinations include Hoboken, Maplewood, and Summit, New Jersey; Yonkers and New Rochelle, New York; Evanston, Illinois; and Santa Clara, California.

“These cities have a music scene, coffee shops, art scene and real estate with grit, affordability and creativity,” says Byron Carlock, PwC Real Estate Leader. In addition to amenities, hipsturbia single-family homes and multi-family rentals enable sharing.

“We’re seeing Millennials and Gen Zers deciding to do life together,” says Carlock. “We’re seeing home sharing, ride sharing and cost sharing. The locations where they do it depend on their desired quality of life as well as access to jobs. A lot of growth is happening in cities around college towns. Students decide to stay there after they graduate”

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