What are Americans spending money on? Experiences over “stuff.” The number one purchase for consumers has been airline tickets, followed by lodging and restaurants, Quinlan said. In fact, US holiday retail laggards have been luxury items including jewelry, appliances, department-store items and electronics. Apparel sales are also down, and e-commerce spending rose, but only after huge discounting took place. Strong geographic areas for retail sales growth included the West Coast and Southeast.

Mobility is key for today's workers, said Quinlan. “One thing 2008 taught us is that you have to move where the jobs are.” Youth now have jobs, and people are leaving jobs without having another—an indication of economic health since it's where we were before the recession. Weekly wage growth is up as well.

So, where should you locate? Quinlan said to look at growth, stability, size, traffic and ticket size. People will move to neighborhoods with amenities so they don't have to go outside of it to shop or get what they need.

In terms of housing, multifamily represents 32% of all starts, but this number is still low, said Quinlan. One of the reasons for multifamily's strength is that people are willing to move more than they have been in the past. “They don't value the home as much since the recession.” What else have they learned since the recession? “Only 52% of Americans actually have money in the stock market.” Also, smaller single-family homes are desired; the fifth bedroom in a home doesn't matter anymore.

Financially, in regard to homes, 12% of homeowners are still underwater on their mortgage, said Quinlan. People are spending more money on furniture and furnishings—the items that can move with you—than on the homes themselves.

Quinlan warned, “Be careful about luxury housing,” since that customer is not the US consumer. In fact, at some point, full kitchens may be optional in some dwellings—Millennials are spending 52% of their food dollars on restaurants and 48% on groceries—and more retirees are seeking condos and apartments than single-family homes, where they can “lock it up and walk away.”

In terms of housing, think about where the labor force is. Businesses have to adapt and market to the consumer and understand how best to reach people (i.e., Facebook and email versus direct mail). Consider accepting credit cards for rent payments because so many people are traveling and not home to mail a rent check so it arrives on time. Quinlan says the US has actually been slower to adapt to digital forms of payment than other global markets, where people “wave their phone” in front of an electronic reader to pay for a mass-transit ticket.

SAN DIEGO—Consumers are spending more money on experiences than material goods, including their homes, which gives the CRE industry insight into future projects and planning, MasterCard's SVP market insights Sarah Quinlan told attendees at MBA's CREF/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo 2017 Tuesday. In her presentation, “What Does the Data Tell Us?”, Quinlan gave a fast-paced review of MasterCard credit-card spending habits over time, what they indicate about consumer preferences and priorities and how this information should be evaluated by CRE professionals.

Quinlan said understanding the trends in this data can help professionals benchmark what is critical to people and how they want to live their lives. With gas prices still 25% below their highs, consumer spending in other categories is up, which speaks to consumer financial health overall. “But, consumers don't spend in the same way anymore. Having two people in a family working means that when a Saturday drops out of a month, spending decreases.” She added that it's typically the woman in the family who controls spending, so more women in the workforce makes this fact significant.

The data also showed that small business outperformed for the last four years, making up 37% of all retail sales in the country. She says people shop at small local stores not to save money, but because it is a value-for-money proposition. “People will continue to shop there and pay for things if they get value out of it.”

While online shopping has been the bugaboo for many brick-and-mortar stores, it only makes up 8.6% of total retail sales, and online sales are only growing 1% per year in terms of overall spending, Quinlan said. In fact, many city dwellers won't shop online if there are no lockers in which to safekeep deliveries from getting stolen. “We will never lose brick-and-mortar stores, but people are shopping in half the number of places they used to; they are loyal, and they want to live/work/play in the same geographical area.” She added that the old American dream of the white-picket fence after having kids is no longer as strong—Millennials will stay in apartments and get bunk beds for their kids rather than buy single-family homes.

What are Americans spending money on? Experiences over “stuff.” The number one purchase for consumers has been airline tickets, followed by lodging and restaurants, Quinlan said. In fact, US holiday retail laggards have been luxury items including jewelry, appliances, department-store items and electronics. Apparel sales are also down, and e-commerce spending rose, but only after huge discounting took place. Strong geographic areas for retail sales growth included the West Coast and Southeast.

Mobility is key for today's workers, said Quinlan. “One thing 2008 taught us is that you have to move where the jobs are.” Youth now have jobs, and people are leaving jobs without having another—an indication of economic health since it's where we were before the recession. Weekly wage growth is up as well.

So, where should you locate? Quinlan said to look at growth, stability, size, traffic and ticket size. People will move to neighborhoods with amenities so they don't have to go outside of it to shop or get what they need.

In terms of housing, multifamily represents 32% of all starts, but this number is still low, said Quinlan. One of the reasons for multifamily's strength is that people are willing to move more than they have been in the past. “They don't value the home as much since the recession.” What else have they learned since the recession? “Only 52% of Americans actually have money in the stock market.” Also, smaller single-family homes are desired; the fifth bedroom in a home doesn't matter anymore.

Financially, in regard to homes, 12% of homeowners are still underwater on their mortgage, said Quinlan. People are spending more money on furniture and furnishings—the items that can move with you—than on the homes themselves.

Quinlan warned, “Be careful about luxury housing,” since that customer is not the US consumer. In fact, at some point, full kitchens may be optional in some dwellings—Millennials are spending 52% of their food dollars on restaurants and 48% on groceries—and more retirees are seeking condos and apartments than single-family homes, where they can “lock it up and walk away.”

In terms of housing, think about where the labor force is. Businesses have to adapt and market to the consumer and understand how best to reach people (i.e., Facebook and email versus direct mail). Consider accepting credit cards for rent payments because so many people are traveling and not home to mail a rent check so it arrives on time. Quinlan says the US has actually been slower to adapt to digital forms of payment than other global markets, where people “wave their phone” in front of an electronic reader to pay for a mass-transit ticket.