Defining the Buyer of the Future
Flux and turmoil will not rule the state’s residential real estate market forever, as all market specialists agree. But what comes afterward?
“The question isn’t ‘When do things go back to normal?’ ” declared Rutgers University’s planning and public policy dean, James W. Hughes. “It’s ‘What will the new normal look like?’ ”
The short answer from the housing trend analyst Jeffrey G. Otteau: “very different.” Economic, financial and sociological changes now in progress will effectively morph the profile of the typical home buyer over the next 15 years, said Mr. Otteau, whose company, the Otteau Valuation Group, issues monthly reports on trends to subscribing brokers and developers.
“Most striking are numbers that indicate the typical buyer of the future will be childless,” Mr. Otteau said in a recent interview. “Either single, part of a childless couple, or with grown children.”
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