This post first appeared on Multi-Housing Depot’s blog – view the original post here.
Today’s post discusses four trends in multifamily housing, from consumers looking for that 10-minute bubble to luxurious finishes in apartments.
- The 10-Minute Bubble: The 10-minute bubble is something that didn’t exist when our parents were growing up. The 10-minute bubble simply means that consumers expect to have access to all their wants and needs within 10 minutes of their apartment complex. This means that great restaurants, bars, gyms, and grocery stores must be located just around the corner, eliminating the need to drive on a packed highway to get to the closest salon or local Target. The apartment living lifestyle has given consumers exactly what they want within a walking distance. Delivering on that convenience, the apartment business has been booming over the past five years – developers have built over 2.1 million units since 2012. Many of these units are rented by the consumers in the millennial generation who prefer the flexibility of renting while enjoying the luxurious lifestyle being created by forward-thinking developers. Experts predict that even with a slight cooling in demand, developers will still build over 1.3 million new units through 2020.
- Luxurious Common Areas: Multifamily living has fully embraced fun common areas. This has been a growing trend for years but today, every new community seems to be one-upping their neighbor with amenities. Common areas are decked out with brightly colored carpet, durable furniture, and large televisions. Developers have even started to incorporate many creative amenities in these luxurious common areas, including personal shoppers, pet grooming, rock climbing walls, fitness centers – even bowling alleys.
- European Interior Finishes: Interior finishes in apartments are always changing in response to the newest trends, colors, or styles. The first thing that comes to mind is the change in interior apartment flooring. It’s no longer a 2 ½” light brown plank – it’s an exotic European style larger plank that can get as thick as 5” – 7”. The same is true when it comes to kitchen cabinets or vanities in apartment units. The apartment market is no longer a traditional cabinet door that comes in classic brown or red hues. The apartment market has trended to light color slab cabinet doors or exotic grained cabinets similar to the photo you see above of Wolf Transition cabinets.
- Concrete as a work of art: When we think of concrete, we often think of a patio, sidewalk, or other non-descript commercial structure. Today, the industrial design movement has gone mainstream, and concrete is considered a chic, urban look with unfinished appeal, making walls and floors pieces of art.
