A lot of ink and digital 0’s and 1’s have been used to talk about Millennial behavior.
Some hay has been made over various reports
on
whether they like to work hard, need work/life balance, are willing to put in their time at banks. Are they living with their parents?
Will they move to the suburbs?
Where will they live?
Will they own cars?
Will they buy real estate?
Check out the video
A few thoughts relating to Millenials in NYC.
First, non-Wall Street jobs have been growing very fast.
This is not hot off the presses, but the Tech sector is adding a huge number of jobs in NYC.
These companies are growing Downtown, taking over Flatiron, and opening Brooklyn offices in droves.
Co-working spaces are blowing up, such as WeWork and Industrious, smaller spaces like Blender, and bigger, blander ones like Regus, etc. – and this trend isn’t changing.
Some aren’t even opening in Manhattan, just building out spaces where people live in Brooklyn. While these incubators will push out growing non-financial business, any change in venture capital investment certainly could make a dent in job growth in startups.
What concerns me more, as relates to housing, is just where these folks will live?
Can they afford to live in Manhattan?
Do they want to live in Manhattan?
When the L train stops running for 18 months to 3 years
to repair track work, it’s going to be a mess in Williamsburg and beyond, and in Manhattan, too.
Will millennials
move to Upper Manhattan?
Will they start renting in the myriad
Downtown Brooklyn options?
Thousands of rental apartments are coming online in Downtown Brooklyn.
This article covers a few of the big projects that will hit over the next few years, but already along Myrtle Avenue you have many options to rent, and for reduced rents.
My view is that Millennials will opt to rent for much longer before they take on conventional behaviors of buying apartments or moving to the suburbs.
I also have big concerns that they will quickly shift out of Williamsburg and East if the commuting options look horrible.
Keep an eye on this.
Long-term, the 10th Avenue and 42nd Street subway station, which would open along the 7 train – the train that already goes to and from Times Square to 34th and 10th Avenue – is percolating.
My sense is that Upper Manhattan, in the 130’s and above – Harlem is obvious already – will become the next location for Millennials.
It’s happening now.
Very pretty housing, nice neighborhoods, easy transportation, and a vastly improving retail landscape.
Stay tuned.