Home Buyer Demands Change, Increased Lighting Opportunities

If your electrical business relies heavily on home construction, you might want to expand your inventory of outdoor lighting and ceiling fans, according to survey results released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) at this month’s International Builders’ Show.

A desire for bigger homes, suburban locations, and more outdoor amenities are driving today’s most popular floor plans, resulting in an uptick in space to 2,524 square feet for the average new home. Similarly, the percentage of new homes with 4+ bedrooms and 3+ full bathrooms has increased to 46% and 34%, respectively.

While these interests vary across generations, they are primarily driven by Millennials and Gen Xers, of whom — 36% and 34%, respectively – noted their housing preferences have changed because of the pandemic.

In addition to wanting more space and more bedrooms, Millennials and Gen Xers are looking for homes with Modern or Contemporary exteriors designed to accommodate multiple generations. Other changes from previous years include an interest in exercise rooms and home offices.

“With this data, you immediately see that younger buyers have been impacted by the pandemic more than older generations,” said Rose Quint, NAHB Assistant VP/Survey Research.

In comparison, 18% of Baby Boomers stated a change in preferences. Baby Boomers are interested in smaller homes on smaller lots, preferably in the suburbs. They also have an eye toward energy efficiency, particularly energy-efficient lighting and ENERGY STAR®-listed appliances and whole home certification.

Quint attributes the greater interest in energy-efficient features to the Baby Boomers’ past experience with homeownership. “Boomers have likely owned a home before and understand the costs of heating and cooling a home,” she noted.

Certain home features resonated with all generations, however. The top five are:

1. Laundry Rooms
2. Exterior Lighting
3. Ceiling Fans
4. Patios
5. Walk-In Pantries

The percentage of single-family homes with patios has risen to 63% as more emphasis has been placed in outdoor living in recent years. Home buyers across generations expressed interest in exterior living, with Millennials indicating a specific interest in front porches.

“I love the fact that styles are cyclical, and that front porches are becoming popular again,” shared Allison Paul, principal at Lessard Design. “People want to be outdoors.”

Paul highlighted numerous examples of popular features and the variety of ways builders can integrate these features into their homes. Whether it’s an open kitchen with a kitchen island as a central focus, an elaborate home office that doubles as a hobby space, or simply a corner niche for basic exercise equipment to create a home gym, there are lots of creative ways to enhance homes to meet buyers’ growing preferences.

Traditionally the electrical industry has not been too proactive in offering options, or even upgrades, to capture more spend from the new home construction market, however, consider opportunities for:

• Generators
• Network control systems
• Lighting controls
• Motion and vacancy controls for specific rooms for energy efficiency as well as for safety reasons
• Expanded USB outlets
• Outlets to support outdoor / holiday lighting
• Landscape lighting
• Deck lighting
• Architectural lighting for the kitchen … upscale pendants and undercabinet lighting
• Surge suppression systems

And more. If the home construction market is important to you, consider developing an “options / upgrade” book for your local builders or partner with some of the key contractors who are involved in the renovation market to show them what is new and to show them how you can partner with them to market opportunities to their customers (and if you need some ideas, give us a call.)

These newer in-demand amenities such as walk-in pantries, expanded laundry rooms, and gym areas create opportunities for lighting design that might have only existed on the higher end of the market previously.