There is a generation that we may have totally misread. I am referring to the Millennials. According to Emily Jaksch, Millennials are more established and property market savvy than we think or even give them credit for. She shares the outcomes of her research and you will be staggered at how much better they are at property investment than their parents.
Listen to the interview now:
Transcript:
Kevin: Well, here’s some staggering news for you. There is a generation that we may have totally misread. We might have gotten them the wrong way. That would be the Millennials. According to Emily Jaksch, who is the founder of HR Gurus and We Care recruitment, she says that the Millennials are more established and property market savvy than we think or even give them credit for. Hi, Emily. How are you?
Emily: I’m good, how are you? Thanks for having me.
Kevin: Emily, to start with, just paint the picture for me about Millennials. How old are they, what are they doing and so on.
Emily: So Millennials are 23 to 37, as I said, over half are 30 plus now. About 30% are parents, 46% already have direct report, so these are the future leaders of our country. They’re not going away, so we all need to just get over it. They are different. I think that their values are the same as all the other generations, they just express them differently. So to give you an example, they’re not looking for lifetime jobs like baby boomers were, and those kind of jobs don’t actually exist anymore. So if you can get between three to five years out of a Millennial in your business then you’re doing really well. I think that they make great employees, you’ve just got to find the right ones with the right values.
Kevin: Now we’ve misread them, have we? Tell me what the Millennials are doing.
Emily: So I think that Millennial bashing has become a global sport. It’s quite fun, everyone seems to have gotten on board. But I did a recent study into Millennials in the workplace and some of the results shocked even me. I’m not a Millennial, I’m a Gen X, and according to my study, 48% already own their own homes. That is very different to the narrative we’re being told in the media, and one in three intend to buy in the next five years. So I thinking that they’re a lot more grown up than we think they are.
Kevin: Yeah, well of course we’ve said, and even in this show we’ve said that Millennials are still living at home. I don’t think we’ve used the word sponging, but that’s probably … That’s your word, sponging off their parents, but we have certainly spoken about the bank of Mum and Dad. And I guess when we talk about affordability, property affordability now, that’s one of the things that we have found, is that Mum and Dads are supporting the kids. Is that different?
Emily: I think that it’s a bit of a myth. I think, according to my study, only 16% of Millennials are still living at home with their parents. I do believe that a lot of millennials probably went home and lived with their Mum and Dad to save for their deposit. I mean, I did that but I’m a Gen X and I did that at one point. I was single at the time. But I think that there’s such an amazing amount of information and a wealth of knowledge out there on social media and things like that, I think that Millennials have access to a lot more information about saving and about property, and that they’re really utilising that and they’re getting in there a lot earlier than we think.
Emily: I think that a lot of them are actually grown up now. According to my study, 50% are 30 plus. So they’re not in their 20s anymore, they’ve got kids, they’ve got direct reports, and the good news is for Australian businesses is that if they’ve got mortgages then they need to work, and so they’re going to be looking for stability, which I think is a great thing. And that’s another thing that came out in my study, that they’re not looking for variety anymore. They’re really looking for stability in their careers and their workplaces.
Kevin: Do you think these Millennials have learned some great lessons from their parents? I mean, some of the … our generation, my generation, our kids have seen us grow up with relative wealth through property and so on, they’ve learned those great lessons and they’ve in fact become better savers than we were.
Emily: Correct. Well, according to my study, only one in two have … Sorry, seven in ten have between $2,000 and $30,000 in savings. And I think that that’s because they’re trying to save for a deposit. And there’s this whole narrative that they’re all on after pay and they’ve got heaps of credit card debt. According to my study, one in two have zero unsecured debt. So a lot of them don’t have any debt at all.
Emily: [crosstalk].
Kevin: A lot of this debt probably does sit with my generation as opposed to Millennials. I was also staggered to read in your report too that quite a lot of this generation have actually no debt on their house at all. They’re totally debt free.
Emily: Correct. So 12% own their homes outright. And I know personally quite a few Millennials who bought an investment property when they were single, and then they got married and they both sold them and now they’ve bought their dream home and they own them outright. Which is quite amazing and fantastic, and good on them.
Kevin: So Emily, did your study reveal that these Millennials are going to become property investors in their own right?
Emily: I didn’t really look into that. It was more about what they wanted in the workplace. But about 40% are looking to start their own business. So Bernard Salt said a while back that they’re quite entrepreneurial and I think that that showed up in the survey. They don’t want to work the traditional 9-5 job. They want flexibility, that’s one of the things that they’re looking for in employers. So I think that a lot of them will get into owning their own businesses, which is quite interesting, also.
Kevin: So your study has revealed that a number of Millennials don’t have properties. Do you see them being inspired by their own generation to become property investors in their own right, get out there and buy property?
Emily: I definitely think so. I definitely think that if that’s the trend that we’re seeing, that younger people are buying houses earlier, I think that a lot of people will get onboard and they’ll start following suit. I think property is a great investment and people can see that. And the property market is still booming in Melbourne and Sydney. It is quite expensive, but I know a lot of young people who are knuckling down, saving, and getting in there, which is a great thing for the economy.
Kevin: If you want to get more information about the research and know a little bit more about Millennials, just check out Emily’s website. The website is Emily, E-M-I-L-Y J-A-K-S-C-H.com and there’s also an ebook there. And that summarises this research, Emily?
Emily: It does. Yes, it’s a [inaudible] summary. It’s really about dispelling some of the myths around Millennials.
Kevin: Emily Jaksch has been my guest and that website again is emilyjaksch.com. Check it out for the ebook. Emily, thanks so much for your time.
Emily: No problem. Thank you so much for having me.
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Kevin Tuner worked in radio as General Manager of various east coast radio stations. He started in real estate in 1988 and was ranked in the Top 10 Salespeople in the state until he was appointed as State CEO 1992. He also operated a number of real estate offices as business owner and was General Manager of several real estate offices in Christchurch.
He now hosts a real estate show on Radio 4BC and a weekly podcast at www.realestatetalk.com.au and a daily 7 to 10 minute podcast show for real estate professionals at www.reuncut.com.au.
To hear more podcasts by Kevin Turner, click here
Disclaimer: while due care is taken, the viewpoints expressed by interviewees and/or contributors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Your Investment Property.
