Millennials are most likely to buy multiple homes, survey suggests

SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) – A new survey suggests that millennials are the most likely to buy multiple homes. The research paper ‘Beyond the Bricks 2’ by HSBC interviewed more than 10,000 people across 10 countries and territories to arrive at this conclusion. Their survey included 1,000 home owners and prospective home owners from Singapore.

The survey said millennials (those aged between 21 and 36 years of age) are the most likely in Singapore to be owner of multiple homes, as well as the quickest to save for housing deposits. 54 per cent of those surveyed in this age group were home owners, and 24 per cent from this group owned multiple homes.

In comparison, only 17 percent of baby boomers (those aged 54 and above), and 19 per cent of Gen X (those aged between 37 – 53 years old) owned multiple homes.

HSBC Bank Singapore retail banking and wealth management head Anurag Mathur said: “This research bucks the stereotypes of Millennials being paycheck spenders and short-term planners.”

He added: “Instead, what the research reveals is a very clear focus on future proofing and investing.” 74 per cent from this group also said that they intended to use their second home for investment purposes or to rent out.

The survey said that almost half (47 per cent) of all millennials here check the prices of their homes at least once a year, with the intention of switching their mortgage or home loan provider. This is more often than any other age group.

Millennials further proved that they were more focused and astute as savers as it took this generation of home owners an average of 5 years to save for their home deposits. The baby-boomers and Gen X took 6 and 7 years respectively to save for the same purpose.

Anurag noted that the survey suggests that the millennials were going after the most competitive mortgage proving that they have a “very clear focus on future proofing and investing”.

“Millennials are known for being digitally savvy, and they’re backing this up with financial savviness too. Technology has also made it easier for property investors to research and track their loans. This is why it is so important that mortgage providers offer greater transparency, more competitive deals and a wider variety of options to meet all their needs,” added Anurag.

The HSBC survey mirrors a research from Australia which suggested that millennials dominate mortgage broker market. Roy Morgan, Australia’s best known and longest established market research company, showed that in the 12 months to March 2018 nearly half (48.6%) of the existing home borrowers who used a mortgage broker over the last five years to obtain their current loan were Millennials. This was well above the share of any other generation.

The chief mortgage consultant Paul Ho said: “Younger people are receptive to mortgage brokers and they are also used to price comparison sites like icompareloan.com. Older people tend to think that you are not the bank and so are more apprehensive.”

Mr Ho added that older people tend to place a lot more respect on bankers despite the fact that banks have lowered their criteria for hiring bankers.

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