How Agents Can Best Connect with Gen Z Clients

Digital natives. Realists. Diverse. Whatever comes to mind when you think of people born between 1997-2012—or as they are more popularly known, Gen Z—the truth is that this generation is a growing audience for real estate. In fact, Gen Z makes up 26 percent  of home buyers in today’s market; a higher percentage than previous generations when they were in the same age range. 

It’s important for real estate agents to understand that Gen Z faces unique challenges. The average home price compared to average incomes across the country continues to increase over time, making  individual home-buying power less and less. While members of Gen Z tend to be conscious consumers, they will continue to need representation to navigate the red tape and ever-changing landscape of the real estate market. Here’s how you can best support this community of clients. 

Learn Who You Are Working With 

To best serve your audience, you need to know who you’re working with. Gen Z is the most tech savvy, digitally engaged group of home buyers to date. Most of them grew up with smartphones and access to the internet—often before they could even read or write. Instead of chalkboards being their primary learning tool at school, they often used tablets and were the first group to be highly engaged in online education. In sum, they don’t need you to teach them how to search an MLS.

This easy access to the most up-to-date technology combined with the fact that many Gen Z-ers grew up during the 2008 housing market crash and following recession shaped their world views. Especially when it comes to real estate, wealth building, and finances. Because of this, Gen Z is a demographic of highly informed and outcome-conscious home buyers. 

Fitting in with these factors, Gen Z has indicated their primary motivation for homeownership is financial stability driven by wealth building. PR Newswire cites that 87 percent of surveyed Gen Z respondents believe homeownership is important to achieving these goals. And they’re right. On average, homeowners have a higher net worth than renters, according to NAR® research.  

Help Gen Z Make Their Homeownership Dreams Come True

While they seem to be highly motivated to purchase homes, the journey to get there doesn’t come without hurdles. This is  where agents come in. Gen Z buyers are predominantly single and buying homes on individual incomes. But how are they affording to do so in a “difficult” market? According to NAR, these twentysomethings are able to enter the housing market through the following resources (that you can help them navigate and take advantage of):

1. Single homeowners are likely to need less space than a multi-income family. FHA loans allow for smaller down payments and lower credit scores. 

2. Many Gen Z buyers can expect to receive contributions to closing costs from family members.

3. This demographic is more willing to compromise on location or condition. 

4. Gen Z buyers are purchasing in markets with lower home prices on average. 

5. NAT cites a study by JW Surety Bonds that shows Gen Z-ers are more likely to consider co-owning a home with friends. 

Knowing where Gen Z’s motivations lie and some of the ways they are participating  in early homeownership, now you can focus on engaging with them and fostering environments to attract them as clients. Here are a few ideas:

1. Host wealth-building classes focused on real estate.  

2. Host first-time home-buyer seminars. 

3. Identify which areas in your ‘jurisdiction’ would serve this population. Do you have lower-priced properties in your market? What about fixer-uppers? 

4. Stay engaged with past clients to know when the time is right to move to a bigger property for a seamless transition — having a pipeline of Gen Z buyers for those smaller properties.

Gen Z has been inundated with information from the start, and they will most likely approach home buying by seeking out as much knowledge themselves as they can. By the time they speak with an agent, they have likely already been watching home prices, researching school districts, monitoring interest rates and reading reviews online. Some may have already driven the area to scope out their next coffee shop and grocery store! 

To be an optimal choice for the growing Gen Z home-buying demographic, align with this mindset. If you’re not already implementing these strategies in your business, pick one and focus on best practices in this one area, examples include:

1. Maximize reviews
   Gen Z-ers are more likely to read Google reviews before making purchases as trivial as the best socks to work out in or as major as hiring an agent for the most impactful financial decision of their lives.
   

2. Nurture relationships with your past clients
   Because of their tendency to seek information and gather others’ input, they will take recommendations from others in their circle.
   

3. Ensure your unique value proposition is clearly communicated and easily located online Gen Z clients will likely look for as much information online as possible before wanting to step foot on a property. Ensure your preferred vendors are also digitally accommodating with online menus of services and transparent reviews.

4. Be the local economist of choice
   Gen Z home buyers are facing barriers into homeownership like never before. You are their first line of defence and their source of truth. It will be imperative that you are able to speak to market pricing, area amenities, and even projected area growth. With so much on the line, they are looking to make informed decisions that will support their goals of financial stability, rather than take risks on property appreciation. 

With Gen Z becoming an increasing portion of the home-buying population, it is important to know how best to work with these individuals. In order to do so, you must understand the reasonings behind how they make decisions and what culturally significant events have impacted their development both socially and financially. Gen Z are data driven economists who value the input and experience of others - attributes we can all learn from and how to implement in our businesses. Regardless of your client demographic, being the economist of choice and maintaining relationships will only serve you and your clients better in the long run! 

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