Real estate prices have shot up in the last few years. The millennial generation is yet to save enough to make down payments. With incomes not rising as steadfastly, affordability has taken a hit. The sheer reality of affordability has given birth to some trends, all leading to ownership.
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• Collaborative buying is helping the young become owners. Collaborative buying is quite simple wherein two or more people are pooling in the money, buying the home, having their own private bedrooms and sharing the common facilities like utility area, bathrooms, kitchen, living area and outdoor space if available.
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• Group loans have been around for a while and are becoming more of a need of the hour than just a choice. Group loans help people who cannot afford to buy a home on their own to use collective affordability to qualify for the loan needed.
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• Communities in common is another emerging trend. It is not as visible as the first two but it has been said that it will further evolve to become a new normal in the next ten years. People will use spare rooms as home office, while common amenities will be up for use for the community, different kinds of modular solutions will become the norm including foldaway furniture and people will make for more space within the available square footage of a home or acreage of a neighbourhood.
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• Joint ventures and syndicates have always been around and they continue to trend. Pooling funds, group development models and communities being developed simultaneously to make the projects more viable are standards today. Even homebuyers are encouraging such joint ventures and syndicated developments. The cost of such projects is more contained since multiple developments happen at the same place at the same time. The viability is certainly assured and the returns are fairer, whilst helping people find more affordable properties.
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• Guarantor loans and crowd housing are the other two prevailing trends. Australians have also started staircasing, a practice widespread in the UK.
