Resident Demographics
For the 2014 year, statistics show that luxury and high-end apartment home complexes will have better occupancy rates than lower or mid-priced properties. Whether this means that the overall pay grade will go up, if the price that normal complexes cost on average will decrease, or if higher paid residents will simply need a new space to live in has yet to be decided. On one side of the spectrum are recently graduated college students looking for a new place to live, and on the other end lay the newlyweds and baby boomers that are looking for a new place to reside. Luckily for the high-end luxury apartments and San Francisco property management, this means a massive rise in revenue, as long as the consumer’s demands have been met. This may end up hurting the middle class of housing in the lona run however, since so many people (including students) will be looking for smaller, cheaper places to reside.
Trends
In 2011, Multifamily Executive Magazine released a poll they had taken, stating that over 60% of the participants in the residential survey offered by Strata Research that the environmental elements of the region they were looking to live in where high atop the list of things they thought of when choosing a place to rent. The trend of considering environmental aspects of a region is expected to continue into the 2014 housing market, and will more than likely help many of the regions such as California to grow substantially over the less-than-desirable regions of the United States. For San Francisco property management, this is once again great news.
Evidence also shows that more consumers expect high-end apartments to have low-energy appliances, as well as windows with lower U-Values and better performance which may be a threat to San Francisco property management if they haven‘t kept their complexes up to date. What the studies have not shown is how willing people will be to pay for these low-energy appliances and windows with better thermal performance. Many consumers in the market are not willing to pay any more than they normally would for such appliances and windows, but simply expect them to be in the apartments. However, as people are beginning to realize the money that they will save in the long run on utilities, this problem isn’t nearly so big as it was just a few years ago. In addition to the utility savings, more people are becoming aware of the way that saving money over the long term by using low-energy appliances is also helping the earth, which adds yet another reason for people to demand low-energy appliances in the new apartments.
Aesthetics
Other studies and polls that have been taken have stated that customers are currently demanding windows that not only provide a higher thermal performance than generic windows, but are also said to have wanted less visual obstruction as well as unintterupted sight-lines. Newer apartment homes and higher-end luxury buildings will most likely have windows with more vinyl and less metal based windows in 2014. Residents of these new complexes and homes also want more green space in the upcoming year, so property owners will more than likely hear more requests for community gardens, rooftop gardens and common areas in the complex to be able to socialize with other residents of the complex, as well as get in touch with online friends. Since so many different apartment complexes are in competition for new residence, it will most likely come to pass that many of the new apartment buildings and rooms will specialize in different types of low-energy appliances in order to keep their numbers high.
Overall, 2014 should be a great year for home owners and property owners alike, bringing forth higher numbers of residences to apartments and new homes, and creating an interest for the regions with better environmental aspects. The changes that luxury and high-end residences have made should bring about higher numbers in people living in the high-class type residences, and may hurt the middle class of homes. By catering to the type of people that may choose to live in a high-class type home however, middle class houses and property owners can create an influx of customers to their own homes as well, especially with the younger age types that are just getting out of college, and currently have student loans piled up.
