SEATTLE, March 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Tech-savvy
millennials are not only driving the Zillow surfing trend, they
could change the way we shop for and buy homes. A new Zillow
survey1 finds the largest generation of
first-time home buyers overwhelmingly want digital tools available
during the home shopping process, and many are comfortable
purchasing their biggest financial asset online.
Nearly 40% of millennials (39%) said they would be comfortable
buying a home online, and significantly more (59%) said they would
be at least somewhat comfortable making an offer on a home after
viewing a virtual tour but not touring it in person.
It's not only homes. Zillow research finds millennials are more
likely than other generations to say they would be comfortable
making many of life's major purchases online. A large majority --
at least 70% -- said they would be comfortable buying furniture,
appliances, televisions and jewelry online. Nearly half (45%) would
be comfortable purchasing a car online.
Born between 1981 and 1996, this generation reached adulthood in
the digital age, with the ability and expectation that they could
make transactions happen with the click of a button; for many, that
expectation includes real estate. Millennials are more likely than
other generations to say they would like to use tech tools while
home shopping. More than 80% of millennials would like to view 3D
virtual tours (82%) and digital floor plans (85%), and nearly 80%
(78%) would like to use self-tour technology to unlock a vacant
for-sale home with their phone and tour it on their own
time.
A huge wave of millennials -- the largest generational group in
the country -- is now aging into their home buying years and
approaching the typical age of a first-time homebuyer: 34.
Zillow research forecasts there will be 6.4 million more households
formed by 2025 as a result of the sheer number of millennials
hitting their mid-to-late 30s, driving housing demand for years to
come.
"It's clear that strong demand from the next generation of
buyers will keep real estate technology in place long after the
pandemic is over," says Zillow Senior Vice President of Product
Matt Daimler. "Digital tools rapidly adopted during the pandemic
not only make home shopping safer, they make it faster and easier.
Technology like Zillow's 3D home virtual tours and interactive
floor plans are allowing shoppers to teleport themselves from room
to room of a for-sale home from their phone or tablet. Many
transactions can now close remotely, too, saving time and hassle."
Time-saving digital tools are allowing millennials, who are
often first-time buyers, to compete in a lightning-fast
housing market. Homes nationwide are going under contract in a
median of 18 days, 28 days faster than a year ago. The pace is even
quicker for listings with a Zillow 3D Home tour, which sold, on
average, 10% faster, as of May
2020.2 Virtual tours and interactive
floor plans help home shoppers make faster decisions by enabling
them to winnow down their options from their couch. Homes on Zillow
with a 3D Home tour were saved by buyers 32% more than homes
without, and got, on average, 29% more views than listings
without.3
While millennials are currently the largest adopters of this
real estate technology, Gen Z is close behind. More than one in
three (36%) zoomers said they would be comfortable buying a home
online, compared to 7% of baby boomers and 19% of Gen X. This data signals the coming sea change in
how people will likely shop for and buy homes in the not-so-distant
post-pandemic future.
|
Total
|
Gen Z (18 -
26)
|
Millennial
(27-41)
|
Gen X
(42-56)
|
Baby Boomer &
Silent Generation (57+)
|
Comfortable buying a
home online
|
23%
|
36%
|
39%
|
19%
|
7%
|
Confidence making
an offer after seeing a 360/virtual tour but not in
person
|
|
|
|
|
|
Somewhat/very/extremely confident
|
42%
|
58%
|
59%
|
39%
|
23%
|
Not at all/not very
confident
|
58%
|
42%
|
41%
|
61%
|
77%
|
Would like to use
each tech tool while home shopping
|
|
|
|
|
|
3D virtual
tour
|
79%
|
79%
|
82%
|
81%
|
75%
|
View digital floor
plan
|
79%
|
76%
|
85%
|
81%
|
77%
|
Unlock with phone and
tour on own time
|
68%
|
73%
|
78%
|
75%
|
54%
|
About Zillow Group:
Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate
to make it easier to unlock life's next chapter.
As the most-visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates
offer customers an on-demand experience for selling, buying,
renting or financing with transparency and nearly seamless
end-to-end service. Zillow Offers® buys and sells homes directly in
dozens of markets across the country, allowing sellers control over
their timeline. Zillow Home Loans™, our affiliate lender, provides
our customers with an easy option to get pre-approved and secure
financing for their next home purchase. Zillow recently launched
Zillow Homes, Inc., a licensed brokerage entity, to streamline
Zillow Offers transactions.
Zillow Group's brands, affiliates and subsidiaries include
Zillow®; Zillow Offers®; Zillow Premier Agent®; Zillow Home Loans™;
Zillow Closing Services™; Zillow Homes, Inc.; Trulia®; Out East®;
StreetEasy® and HotPads®. Zillow Home Loans, LLC is an Equal
Housing Lender, NMLS #10287 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org).
1 Zillow Group Population Science
collected a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000
Americans. Fielded between February 11 and
February 19, 2021, the survey asked participants questions
about their comfort and likelihood to adopt new technologies in
home shopping. The survey also tested participants' knowledge
of credit scores. To achieve national representativeness, quotas
for age, education, sex, region, race, income, and marital status
limited oversampling of any given demographic group. In addition to
quotas, Zillow used statistical raking to weight the sample to the
US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019 sample of
adults
2 Compared to listings without a Zillow
3D Home tour. Based on data collected Dec
2019 - May 2020.
3 Based on Jul
2020 – Dec 2020 data.
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SOURCE Zillow