OK, it sounds like a joke, but this was the format for today’s fascinating ULI Breakfast Meeting. For me, the most interesting part of today’s discussion was Generation-Y. Specifically, women of this generation will be better educated than men and are higher paid. Gen-Y women will make the critical decisions and are more fiscally conservative.

Other items of interest:
• Immigrants will account for one-third of the Washington-area’s population growth in the coming years.
• Households-with-children will drop from nearly half of the households in 1960 to one-quarter of households in 2040.
• We should expect a 35-year economic boom cycle to begin around 2015.
• The lifespan of US residents will reach 120 years. Today’s younger generation can expect to live past 100.
• In the future, organ replacement will be as common as replacing a transmission in an old car.

There are some interesting and thought-provoking forecasts to hear; but we can be assured that a paradigm shift is underway that will change the way we do business to meet the market demand.

-Dan

Welcome to the Fulton Research website and our new blog, called On Target.  If you have ever developed a website, you know how much time and effort goes into a project like this.  The entire Fulton Research team contributed to this effort and that hard work is much appreciated.

As you browse through our list of services, you will see that Fulton Research is much more than a residential housing market research firm.  Our team members have expertise in most real estate uses, and have served in many roles in the real estate development process.  Please call to discuss your projects or any question regarding the market.

I’m especially proud to announce the latest addition to the Fulton Research team, Margarita Foster, as Vice President of Office Markets and Sustainability. Having studied the regional office market for years as Vice President of Market Research for Cassidy Pinkard Colliers, Margarita brings a wealth of knowledge of the commercial real estate market. The press release announcing her joining Fulton Research can be found here.

On occasion, I will use this blog to highlight interesting products and services developed for the real estate market.  DesignLens (www.designlens.com) is an online library of architectural photographs of the country’s best home designs, communities, and historical architecture.  In today’s tight economic conditions, many developers cannot afford to treat themselves to a product tour, DesignLens is the perfect alternative.  It features dozens of detailed professional photos in what they call “a chronicle of architectural and merchandising achievement”

With massive stimulus, tax breaks and low interest rates, the purchasing power for consumers is unbelievable.  Now is the time when those who can afford to purchase a new home should do so.  These people are seeing the best deals and will see the greatest potential for home value appreciation – a major factor in the psychology of home buying.

They are also helping to burn off the excess housing inventory in the market, and are generating revenue for Realtors, builders, mortgage companies, Home Depot, Best Buy and any other company that has a business cycle tied to the housing cycle.  These companies will then hire back some of the people who were laid off in the downturn who will then start consuming other products and services.  This job creation will create demand for housing and, once inventory reaches supply-demand equilibrium, then we will finally begin the first new housing cycle since 1992.