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This all sounds like it's a odd discussion of Maslow's hierarchy..?
As far as being able to sell large SFH in the suburbs, there was just another article on (I'm paraphrasing...) "Surprise, millennials are just like everybody else".. that covered the fact that many of the oldest millennials (mid-late 30s) are *shock* moving to the 'burbs for their kids/schools, etc..
So perhaps the revolution attributed to the most recent adult cohort isn't as revolutionary as the ridiculous hypemasters made it out to be.
In our neighborhood (Ohio, large houses, 1 acre lots, in the 'burbs) - houses sold great in the Spring; and have slowed down late summer/fall (so - your basic school cycle of real estate). Will that be the case in 20 years? Who knows, a misstep with N. Korea could make the discussion moot.
But at the moment, the suburbs are not near as dead as folks predicted they would be (10 years ago, during the bust)..
We moved from a 2,600 sf house to a 4,000 (not by choice it was all that we could find in the neighborhood we needed)
Anyway, it's the same functionally except we have one extra bedroom now. It's a small room on the first floor which is nice for guests.
The main difference is the rooms are a bit bigger. Not overwhelmingly bigger, just a bit. I like the feeling of the added roominess. But I could live without it too.
I but a house to live in the future is very uncertain with the hack politics we have had a decade or two and with the values changing generation by generation. I buy something for me not to sell and have a need to use those funds. That is like playing the lottery for your future resources
Millennials are also moving to the suburbs to have a yard for their beloved dogs! Many that I know don't have kids yet and don't seem too interested, but they do want a space for their pet to run around and a nice neighborhood to walk the dog.
Also, a yard for casual entertaining like a barbecue and corn hole is big with young people. A room dedicated to a big screen tv for sports and movies (maybe gaming) is desirable.
If they have the money to buy a home that fits their lifestyle wants and needs, more power to them.
I've lived in CT since 1990. In the CT suburb we landed in new home construction was exclusively over priced inefficiently designed McMansions built on acre lots. I've been in some of those homes. They're sparsely furnished with second hand furniture. If you look closely at the landscaping, it's not being kept up and is going to pot.
The dirty little secret is that home ownership is highly overrated and is a money pit. What no one impresses upon wide eyed first time buyers is that affording to buy a home is one thing. Affording to maintain a home is another thing entirely.
That may be the case in CT, but not necessarily everywhere else.
If he's smart and buys a normal sized condo without high fees, he should be paying less.
I don't think there will be much of a future market for these monster homes. Four thousand square feet is excessive unless you're opening a B&B, lol. Maintenance would be a nightmare and anyway, if anyone needs that much space, they are not using the space wisely.
Some boomers think bigger is better. And there are a lot of boomers. Future generations probably won't have this mind set about the huge houses and future generations exist in smaller numbers than the boomers. So, yes, I bet the CCRC places won't be in very high demand once the boomers die off. The boomers were an anomony and once they are gone things will probably return more to the way they were previously--normal sized houses and probably small condos or apartments for retirement.
Yawn...When Millennials start to have kids en masse, and they are and will, they will follow similar trends to their parents.
Sure, right now they're looking for starter homes, but not because of some hippy-dippy-feel-good sustainability conspiracy. Its because right now they like urban conveniences and don't need/want a huge space to clean and maintain for two people or two and a baby.
When those kids get to moving around they want a yard and space sure as anything else.
What is replacing things here are NOT McMansions. Mostly 2 or 3 story zero-lot line houses or sometimes, townhouses. Lots of people want to live in the urban core, including retirees.
And for those who don't want to be bothered with clicking on a link, here is the pertinent language: "Each of us has some common things that we require or need to live.* These items are called needs.* Examples of basic needs include food, water, shelter.*
Let's see....
"Economists do not differentiate between wants and needs in examining scarcity." INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS, by Dr. David A. Dilts, Department of Economics, School of Business and Management Sciences, Purdue University, 6th edition
Even in high school economics:
"Economics is the study of how people choose to use scarce resources to satisfy their unlimited wants and desires" McDougall Littell Economics: Concepts and Choices, McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company.
"Economics is the study of how humans make decisions in the face of scarcity. These can be individual decisions, family decisions, business decisions or societal decisions. If you look around carefully, you will see that scarcity is a fact of life. Scarcity means that human wants for goods, services and resources exceed what is available." Rice University
Mad Man and Sport and Misty are both correct. Both definitions are correct. They reflect different parts of the Economic process. Economics is the study of that process and Sport is correct with his definition of Economics being the study of how we use scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants and needs. Within that definition is the operating equation that civilized man develops a method develops a system to allocate those limited resources since the demand for exceeds at some point their availability. The study of how man does that is the study of Economic systems. Those include free market allocation/capitalism, socialism etc.
A simplified beginning to the study of economic systems is to begin with barter which is how primitive man traded and allocated. In order to do that more efficiently they developed a medium of exchange which we now call currency. That enables us to give resources a store of value etc etc etc,
However as Mad Man notes we each have wants and needs that guide our individual behavior. Shelter is a need how ever the style and size of that need easily becomes a want. As with food and clothing. Clothing in some climates is a basic need however we can easily see how the Khardasians has created the classic overindulgence of a need to a unlimited want.
So our individual behavior is guided by a self developed system of wants and needs. Trying to debate what is a want and a need at the individual level can be meaningless and psychology specifically Maslow can lead you on a multiple day discussion,
Economics is the study of our collective wants and needs along with the societal practice of resource allocation,
Just look at Puerto Rico, surrounded by water with water being so very scarce right now for many. How should that be allocated and what for some is a life and death need while for others it isn't
Housing as a want or need? Size of? Land used? Have a go at what is a want or a need however remember the individual
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