A recent Apartment Guide survey found that 42% of upcoming college grads want to live in the suburbs; only 31% said they wanted to move to a big city. (Because if there's one thing college kids know, it's what they want.) Butone pro recently told us young adults would rather drink battery acid than live and work in the 'burbs. Well, which one is it? We asked our experts for insight.
DC-based Kern Investment Research founder Jack Kern says the results may indicate college grads are seeking a high quality of life, whether its in an urban core or the suburbs. And he points out that while the young'uns may be going suburban, theyre not going to bedroom communities in the middle of nowhere, but ones close to urban transit not far from downtowns, which are mini-cities on their own, he says. In the DC area, that means areas like the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, Bethesda, and Rockville.
Apartment Realty Advisors Matt Rotan says he's seeing some strong suburban drivers. Developers are building nicer product than hes ever seen there, with better amenities, higher-quality unit interiors, and more options. Young pros often work on more flexible schedules (or work from home entirely), and some dont see the need to battle congestion and traffic in inner cities.
But his colleague Adam Allen says hehasn'tseen the survey supported at all. (Stats are like your crazy uncle's stories: They're fun and interesting, but you don't always know which represent the truth.) Adam is based in Houston, a market known for its sprawl and strong suburbs, but tells us young professionals want infill locations, period. Even secondary infill sites are outperforming suburbshis firm recently sold Cheval, a multifamily community tucked into an industrial area of Houstons Inner Loop. Potential buyers were skeptical, wondering whod want to live in that environment, so ARA polled the residents. The vast majority (65%) said the location being close to the Galleria and Downtown was more important than anything else (including amenities and pricing).
New York-based Atalanta Advisors' Rachel Gilbert Solomon (left) says rising land prices and rental rates--especially in burgeoning NYC neighborhoods like Long Island City in Queens and throughout Brooklyn-- indicate that young folks are fans of NYC's urban lifestyle. Developer clients of the middle-market real estate advisory firm she co-founded with Annu Chopra (right) tell her many units in those neighborhoods are being converted into shares, meaning even more people are packing in. We snapped Rachel and Annu last night during the Women's Networking Seriesat law firm Herrick's Manhattan office, flanking guest of honor and top-earning female tournament poker player Vanessa Selbst.
Baltimore Development Corp prez Brenda McKenzie (who recently moved from Boston) also sees different stats than Apartment Guide: She says 88% of college grads want to live in the urban core. Shes focusing on growing Baltimore (read: attracting those college grads) by supporting connectivity between employment and residential real estate, she says. (An overabundance of coffee shops and Apple stores might help, too.) That means attracting companies that will hire the brains (like Baltimore's Under Armour) and encouraging worthy residential stock. The city recently passed a tax credit for developers to convert underutilized office to residential.