What Generation Z Wants from the Rental Market

It still feels like Millennials have only recently burst onto the scene, triggering Baby Boomers with their newfangled doodads and whatnots. But Millennials are mostly grown up, and so the nation turns its proclivity for disparaging younger generations to the new kids on the block.

The oldest members of the new generation are turning 24 this year, and this culturally diverse cohort of digital natives (even millennials can't compare on these two fronts) are already occupying a growing share of the rental market, so RentCafé conducted a survey to get a feel for the preferences of Generation Z renters already striking out on their own (or trying to).

An article by Sanziana Bona summarizes the narrative that emerges from the survey data:

Embracing technology and social media as a way of living, these young adults seem to know exactly what they are looking for when it comes to renting an apartment, what they expect from their apartment communities, and how much they are willing to spend. Although they are budget conscious and still at the dawn of their earning years, Gen Z renters want the highest-quality apartments and rental communities that feature the most technologically-advanced features.

As evidence of this summation, the survey finds that Generation Z cites high-speed internet as the most important amenity for a rental unit, and they are more likely than any other generation to use Google search to find apartments, and are more likely to rely on crowd-sourced property ratings and reviews to make rental decisions.

The source article includes a series of interactive infographics to illustrate the findings of the survey.