What Motivates Younger Apartment Rental Choices

Do you know what motivates younger renters? What they plan to do about rental housing and the features and amenities they really want? Apartments.com ran a survey and sent results data to GlobeSt.com.

It’s “younger” rather than “Gen-Z” because the age groups don’t match up well enough. Instead of adult Gen-Z participants, which would be roughly 18 to 27, it’s 18 to 34. Also, some of the data aren’t broken out by age.

For example, those who currently rent weren’t divided by age, so included everyone from 18 to 65 and older. Of those, 65.8% say they plan to rent again while 10.4% say no, and 23.8% are unsure.

Interestingly, the respondents in the two target age groups skew highly female. For 18 to 24, 74% identified as female and 26% as male. In 25 to 34, about 65% were female and 35% was male. Across all age groups, 1.6% identified as non-binary or third gender. It would seem reasonable to assume that non-binary self-identification would be concentrated among younger people, but there is no way to know from the data.

About 70% of those who are 18 to 24 say they are employed. The 25-to-34 group was 85% employed.

About 73% of 18-to-24 respondents planned to move alone, with 27% moving with a roommate. For the 25-to-34 group the split was 85% alone, 15% with a roommate.

The rest of the analysis unfortunately don’t have age breakouts. Another analysis which didn’t have age breakouts was answering when they planned to move. The largest group, 27.3%, plan to move by the fall and another nearly 25% expect to move in one to two years. And 30% plan to move between four and 12 months.

When asked where they’ll go, again without age distinction, 15% want to be in the same neighborhood, 30% want a different neighborhood in the same city, and 34% want either a different city, metropolitan area, or state. About 55% last renewed a lease within 6 to 12 months ago.

When asked what they planned when their current lease expires, 34% said move to a new apartment community; 22%, renew the current lease; 21%, rent a single-family home, duplex, condo, or townhome; 6% purchase a home; and 3%, move to a different unit in the current community.

The biggest reasons for moving are more affordable rent (28%); a better location (23.6%); larger space (22.4%); and unhappy with current situation (21.1%).

Many expect the search for a new apartment, from starting to look to signing a lease, will take considerable time: 1 to 2 months, 28.8%; 3 to 6 months, 21.2%; and 3 to 4 weeks, 18.6%.

Technology is expected to play a big role in the search, as 73.4% using a search app or website; 53.2% using an apartment community website; 45.7% using a more general search engine; and 25.9% using social media. That doesn’t mean older methods are out the window: 37% plan to talk to people; 33.8% will drive around neighborhoods, and 13.4% will use a traditional broker.

Almost all plan to make use of online ratings and reviews — 40% say extremely important; 35%, very important; 19% moderately important, and 6% saying either slightly or not at all important.

Factors in order of importance are price (78%), safety and security (49%); close to work or school (27%); amenities (26%); number of bedrooms (23%); square footage (23%); and close to local parks, stores, or other points of interest.

As far as amenities go, top ones in importance are in-unit laundry (76%); air conditioning (70%); dishwasher (47%); off-street parking (47%); balcony or other private outdoor space (45%); and pet-friendly (41%).

Perhaps Apartments.com will at some point do age analysis across these factors, as that could be useful in the multifamily industry.