Are you a long-term property investor or a home flipper looking to appeal to the growing number of millennial buyers impacting the real estate market? Or perhaps you’re a homeowner looking to sell your house and know you have lots of young buyers in your area? 

Either way, if you plan to makeover your property this year, it’s wise to understand what this key demographic looks for in home design.

Low-Maintenance Choices

Busy millennials want their spare time available for entertainment, exercise, and other tasks, rather than housekeeping and maintenance. As such, look for ways to design a property that offers a low-maintenance lifestyle. Make choices that lead to minimal upkeep, such as materials that don’t need to be repainted often and easy-care flooring. 

Choose benchtops that don’t mark easily, low-care drapes and blinds and self-cleaning appliances where possible. Also, organization is important to millennials and helps them to reduce cleaning time, so look for ways to consider storage and simplicity at every turn. 

User-Friendly Outdoor Space

Millennials don’t want to have to spend all their weekends mowing lawns, pulling weeds, and trimming shrubs and trees either. They’re generally keen to find properties with manageable outdoor space. They still want a nice, user-friendly outdoor space where they can entertain friends and family, relax, and get some sun, as well as a fenced area for pets, but they don’t need a huge yard. 

When designing or renovating your property with millennials in mind, create a small decked area for seating and dining, but stick with a minimal lawned zone that doesn’t require too much upkeep. Note, too, that younger buyers enjoy quick access to local amenities such as shops, restaurants, bars, parks, walking tracks, gyms, swimming centers, and other places of interest. Therefore, they will get their outdoor needs met in bustling city or suburban centers rather than require everything in their own backyard. 

Home Office Space

Remote work is on the rise for all age groups, especially after the global coronavirus pandemic hit and changed life as we know it. However, the trend for working from home is particularly relevant to the younger workforces. Millennials like having flexibility in working hours and locations, so place importance on having a dedicated home office space. 

As you set up your home for potential buyers to inspect, consider showcasing the live-work versatility of the property by carving out a specific area for people to do their job. Even if you don’t have a spare bedroom or specific office you can use for this, look at turning one bedroom into a combined sleeping-working zone. Alternatively, find a nook or alcove to set up or even convert unused attic, basement, or garage space.  

Work areas should be private, preferably with a door that closes or, at a minimum, a screen or some other partition. Ensure the room has good natural light and heating and cooling options, such as a quiet, modern ceiling fan or HVAC system. Install more power points as needed, too. 

Multifunctional Spaces 

Another plus you can add to your home for millennials is dual-purpose spaces. A growing trend is for younger generations to want properties where areas suit work, rest, and play and are flexible to change usage as needs evolve or circumstances dictate. For example, they might look for a living space that can double as a gaming room or a guest bedroom perfect for yoga or meditation practice, too. 

Millennial buyers are attracted to intelligent, thoughtful design solutions that optimize how space is used without having to add square footage and the additional costs that go with that. Incorporate as much clever storage as you can for bonus points. For instance, make use of the otherwise dead areas under stairs and windows, over doorways, and in corners.  

Smart Tech and Sustainability

Smart tech is also a feature millennials look for when browsing places for sale. They see value in homes with fixtures that will help them save money long-term, as such tools can. Plus, they’re typically very environmentally focused, so keen to find a house with sustainable features. 

Many smart-home products offer tech, time and money savings, and eco-friendly benefits all in one. You might consider installing energy-saving, low-emission appliances and light bulbs, solar panels, and water-saving showerheads and other attachments to attract buyers. You can also select sustainable building materials and add extra insulation, plus internet-connected thermostats to help reduce power bills. 

Millennials also tend to like properties with smart security systems and doorbells. Since they use the internet so much and do a lot of streaming, they expect excellent WiFi capabilities and, preferably, access to Ethernet cabling. 

While you may have previously concentrated on baby boomer or generation X buyers because of the idea that they’re the ones with more money to spend, millennials can be a lucrative market. They’re certainly a growing one and worth considering as you design and stage your property.