The average age of buying a first home is 29 years old, and the main reason why Romanians want to buy a home is the same among all the generations analyzed, namely the desire to have a space that they can organize according to their own preferences.

This option was chosen by 54% of Generation Z, 42% of Generation Y, 25% of Generation X and 31% of Baby Boomers, according to a recent study by Storia.ro

Top of the most compelling reasons for purchasing real estate by generation

For people under the age of 26 (part of Generation Z), the second reason for wanting to buy a property is to become its owner (53%), followed by other motives such as: the desire to have more space (28). %), the desire to be closer to important places for them, such as work, schools, kindergartens (28%), and that the bank rate will have the same importance as the rent (24%).

Like Gen Z, Gen Y (ages 27-42) have as their top reasons the desire to own a home (39%) and the desire to live in a larger space (38%), followed by other reasons such as: a change in family situation, such as marriage , divorce or birth of a child (26%) and the desire to invest in real estate (20%).

Among the reasons for which representatives of Generation X (43-58 years old) buy a home are: the desire to invest in real estate (24%), to buy real estate for another family member (21%), the desire to live in a larger area (19%) , followed by the desire to own a home (18%).

Representatives of the baby boomer generation (age 59 and older) want to buy a home also because they want to move to another city (27%), as well as for other reasons (22%) or because they want to have a larger area (18%) ) or become owners (17%).

What is the profile of the real estate buyer by age

The Storia.ro study was conducted among people interested in buying a house or apartment in the next two years, namely people who currently own real estate (50%) and people who do not own real estate (50%).

Analyzing the profile of respondents who are already owners, but want to buy real estate again, 73% belong to the baby boomer generation (over 59 years old), 72% to generation X (43-58 years old), 43% to representatives of generation Y (27 -42 years old) and only 17% of them belong to Generation Z (under 26 years old), as expected if the average age of buying a first home is 29 years old.

When asked how long they plan to live in the property they intend to purchase, the majority of respondents (40% on average) across all generations surveyed (Z, Y, X, Baby Boomers) thought it would be more than 15 years. years

However, among generations Z (up to 26 years) and Y (27-42 years), there is greater flexibility regarding the possibility of living for a limited time (from 1 to 5 years) in the purchased property, representatives of the two generations choose this option in a total share of almost 30%.

“Our country ranks first in the list of European Union states in terms of the number of homeowners. This trend is reaffirmed by our research, which shows that the desire to own a property remains the main reason for buying property among all generations, from under 26 to over 59. However, we have seen that those under 42 are considering staying in their property for a limited time, up to 5 years, which shows us that Gen Y and Z are more flexible than we might expect, in that they feel they want variety and don’t see a home as forever,” said Monica Dudeu, Storia.ro & OLX Real Estate Marketing Manager.

According to the analyzed data, almost 70% of respondents would live in a new building with their partner and/or children, 14% would live alone, and 7% would like to rent it. As expected, analyzing the responses by generation, it can be seen that the majority of respondents from generation Z (under 26 years old) and from the baby boomer generation (over 59 years old) would live with their partner, and from generation Y (27-42 years old) and X (aged 43-58) would live with their partner and children.

When asked how they feel about today’s real estate market, 32% of respondents are worried, 24% are confident or hopeful, and 23% are a little confused about changes in the real estate industry in the near future. Analyzing the answers, it can be seen that respondents of Generation X (43-58 years old) and Baby Boomers (over 59 years old) are most confident or hopeful, while respondents of Generation Y (27-42 years old) are among those who are more worried.