It's been widely noted that, across America, the current crop of 18 to 34-year-olds — branded "Millennials," "The Creative Class," the "Organic-Zen Generation," et cetera — have trended toward intown living, priding themselves on revitalizing and even recolonizing urban areas abandoned by their grandparents. But local website Atlanta Real Estate Forum suggests the trend could temporary in the ATL, as some indicators suggest millennials are being drawn to the 'burbs by the attributes that kept their parents anchored. "The current top selling markets tend to be suburban and include locations such as Forsyth, Cobb and North Fulton counties — popular single family locations known for good schools and single-family detached homes," the site reports. "Realtors and builders report that much of this activity is being driven by leading edge millennials ? who are making first time home purchases in these areas due to schools, home size and affordability as compared to more close-in locations." The evidence cited is more observational than scientific, but are you buying this? Is Atlanta's crop of young professionals temporary residents?
The Great Recession has driven demand for rentals, as evidence by the myriad apartment projects under way or proposed from Decatur to Buckhead. But, ultimately, the website posits, millenials "want to raise their families in the type of places they grew up, which for the overwhelming majority of them was the suburbs. They want big yards, good schools and safe environments."
Elsewhere, a millennial migration is helping to change the face of suburban towns.
As chronicled recently in the New York Times, an exodus from hipster-haven Brooklyn is creating, in slow measures, what the newspaper calls "hipsturbia," triggered by ballooning real estate prices and creeping Mahattanization. "While this colonization is still in its early stages, it is different from the suburban flight of decades earlier, when young parents fled a city consumed by crime and drugs," the newspaper writes. "These days, young creatives are fleeing a city that has become too affluent."
· Will Millennials Be the New Atlanta Suburbanites? [Atlanta Real Estate Forum]
· Creating Hipsturbia [The New York Times]
· Will Atlanta's 'Creative Class' Uproot to Suburbs? [Curbed Atlanta]
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