The Dynamics of House & Home Evolving into 2024 & 2025

Since starting EXPERIENCE now 20+ years ago, we have been very involved with house & home brands as well as real estate development and home builders.

Many audience groups believe that house & home development and retail sales are in the depths of an economic depression.

I cannot fault them too much.

Mortgage interest rates are at their highest levels since the early 2000s.

The average home mortgage payment is nearly $3,000 per month. Very few homes below $400K hit the markets in the Southeast… few below $750K in the Northeast … and even fewer below $1 Million on the West Coast.

An interesting set of statistics posted in the Wall Street Journal this past week… the average payment on a 30 year mortgage loan is $2,824 with essentially 1 out-of-every 4 home owners facing a monthly mortgage payment of $3,000+.

And this does not include tax or insurance costs.

The other startling numbers focus on the percentage of new vs. pre-owned homes being purchased.

Newly built homes accounted for only 15% of total home sales in the U.S. marketplace in 2022, but among Millennials mid-20s through late 30s, only 9% … and Millennials are now the #1 largest home buying group in the U.S.

Millennials covet the role of co-authorship of their brand experience and many home builders operate with a product with very, very few areas of customization allowed.

I know that readers value market trends and change agents!

Here is a set of what’s driving housing today and likely to intensify in 2024 and 2025…

• Kitchens have over taken casual dining space and casual dining space has overtake dining rooms. The kitchen tables are integrated into the kitchen counters and islands
• Past dining room space is now viewed as flex space from home offices to retreat/ meditation space to exercise rooms to kids study /schooling rooms. This is space many find of value in apartments!
• Family rooms are back but referred to as “multi-use” and “gathering space” … they are enhanced with built in desks and bookcases and connection points to outdoor space… most are adjacent to the kitchen with space for a built in bench table for dining, games, homework and study
• Color is surging … on everything … exteriors, walls, ceilings, base boards, trim, half walls, accent walls, cabinets, appliances, plumbing… pastels are out and bold is in. Drivers are full saturation to accents to multiple color combinations — upper and lower cabinets… ceilings vs. walls… accent walls vs. main wall colors
• Farm House and Country are becoming integrated into other styles… Farm House for the sake of Farm House is way too mass-driven than personally unique
• Reuse and repurpose can differentiate a uniform floorpan and design … an antique door, old hardware, old cabinet for bath counters, book cases constructed from older furniture… reused woods for door frames, island frontage, ceiling millwork, a bedroom or bathroom door … accent repurposed wood ceilings in a room or two
• Her Space and women’s dressing rooms are hot as additional bedrooms are being converted over to “California Closet” dressing rooms complete with a work hub, makeup bar and yoga/meditation nook. Slowing becoming door-accessible to the primary bedroom, but still valued by some as removed/retreat space down the hall… this is beyond a walk-in closet!
• Pet centers and doggie rooms complete with a refrigerator for natural pet food, a bathing tub, sleeping hutch, iPad stand for digital music and swing door access to the outside
• Coexistence of housing with functioning Farms and Mill Towns with shared garden plots, barns / storage, guest space and outdoor entertainment like fire pits and patio dining … smaller square footage and one story floorpans for couples (childless and empty-nest), singles/widows and limited income residents

Here’s five trends of what’s no longer hot…

• Whites are out and color is in … but … the color selection can be an avenue of “buyer” customization of new housing when there is limited, if any customization offered
• Totally open space of living, kitchen, dining, study, office and outdoor space are evolving into sectional space… early 2000 designs are already evolving with walls and furniture that can section off spaces.
• Media and theatre rooms… way too limited in use… families have multiple agendas and schedules and couples often feel its wasted space
• Man Caves… Women are not only the moms multi-tasking, but might even be primary wage-earners… the man caves were often relegated and poorly managed space…. With the cost of housing today, many see man caves as a waste of space… or space overall not needed which might lower the price of the homes
• Property Owner’s Associations (POAs) and large sets of don’ts and cannot’s … true among first time home owners — Millennials and Workers … as well as Baby Boomers and Empty-nesters… customized service delivery for lawn care and exterior home care might be difficult to manage, but many see the menu options as much better

And here’s five elements of housing that can be suicidal for a developer and builder…

• Anything AI — Artificial Intelligence — voice recognition for commands might be okay, but anything programed with automated AI and interaction with AI in a home is seen as “Big Brother” by both Boomers & Matures as well as Millennials and their kids
• Mixed laminate flooring colors and styles with variance from one room to the next… this is fulling despised in newly built housing and classified immediately as a rehab necessity in pre-owned homes… and keep the wood brown vs. beige or bleached brown… the dogs will leave prints going in and out of their flip doors
• Lack of co-authorship … Boomers have way too much pre-programmed and dedicated to their style and designs…Millennials will not tolerate it and walk… Nearly 90% of Millennials are purchasing pre-owned homes which they can personalized
• Cement pads for patios… they are useless and many see them as lowering the value of the home / apartment… cement texturing, planting beds, railing, even landscaping around the cement pads can help
• Poor management of to-be developed sections of future housing that do not respect, preserve and/or actively involve transitional care communicate a lack of environmental respect to Millennials and Boomers alike

In the past 20 years, EXPERIENCE has worked extensively in the house & home marketplace. But what is happening in house & home is spilling into other product and service categories too!

If you would like to learn more about these trends and just how the homesteads drive the consumer marketplace at-large, give us call at 404.245.9378 or Email me directly at mkooyman@experiencediscovery.com.