There’s one place this desired demographic, college-educated professionals between the ages of 25 and 34, tends to want to live: tight-knit urban neighborhoods that are close to work and have lots of entertainment and shopping options within an easy walk.
In fact this demographic’s population grew 26% from 2000 to 2010 in major cities’ downtowns, or twice as fast as it did in the those cities’ overall metro areas, according to a CEOs for Cities report based on U.S. Census data. That is one of the reasons city planners have been plowing money and resources into revitalizing their core business districts.
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Though it depends what, whom and where you’re counting. Here’s today’s Sun:
When asked what type of housing they’d buy if given $1 million, 34 per cent of renters and property owners in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley surveyed would rather have a large house and property in a suburban setting, compared with just 12 per cent who would opt for a luxury apartment in the city, according to a Mustel Group poll.
The poll, conducted for REW.ca, a real estate search website owned by Glacier Media Inc., surveyed 561 adults between Feb. 28 and March 12.
Twenty per cent would buy a small detached house and 10 per cent favoured a townhouse or duplex in the city, while 23 per cent would just keep the cash and rent. …
The poll shows 47 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 preferred a large house and property over all other options, while most of those over 55 chose to keep the money and rent. …
But …
Of the folks who live in the city of Vancouver, most would go for the cash or the small detached house in the city, and only about 10 per cent said they’d rather have an estate in the burbs.
I really have a problem with the way this survey has been reported. Yes, 34 per cent of people chose a large house in the suburbs. That is a plurality of people, not a majority. Yes, 12 per cent chose a “luxury” apartment. Another 10 per cent, however, chose a townhouse – hardly suburban – and another 20 per cent chose a small-lot house – also, quite urban on average.
The message from this should be that should be that, oh wowsers, 42 per cent of people chose what could be described as an “urban” option, one of many urban options available. That’s more than those who chose the suburban option, which is, I should add, really the only option true suburbia offers for people to live in. Gasp, Vancouverites prefer urban environments.
And let’s also remember this is a fictional exercise – a what if. If I could, I would probably choose to live on the Moon – the views, after all, would be amazing. But I’m stuck Earthbound, and so are most people. Most people also recognize that there are trade-offs in life, and given a choice between a real-life big house next to a real-life big highway with no real-life stores nearby except a Wal-Mart they have to drive to, they might be even more inclined to choose the urban options. And if we can make those urban options affordable, all the better.