Millennials: How different are they?
By Lee Yan Li lylee@thestar.com.my
MANY see millennials as a homogenous group that prefers informal employment, job hoppers who avoids financial responsibility.
However, according to a survey by CBRE Research, millennials and other generations in Asia Pacific have far more in common when it comes to important life decisions such as buying a house, career planning and spending money.
Case in point: most millennials save money to buy a home and spend prudently.
The findings have serious repercussions. According to CBRE Asia Pacific head of research Dr Henry Chin, “Millennials represent the fastest source of spending power regionally and serve as the most influential demographic framing future trends in real estate through their lifestyle behavior, requirements and priorities of living, working and play.”
His view was echoed by CBRE Asia Pacific chief executive officer Steve Swerdlow, who said the live, work and play priorities and habits of millennials in Asia Pacific will shape economics, redefine opinions on workplace design and functionality, and drive new attitudes towards consumption and experience for the foreseeable future.
That is not to say there are no discernible difference between millennials and other generations. While this demographic aspires to have a stable career, factors such as office design are important to them. When selecting an employer, 71% of respondents are willing to give up other benefits for a better office environment.
In the survey which covered 5,000 young respondents aged 22 to 29 in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India and Japan, 65% of respondents planned to buy property in the future, although 63% said they are forced to continue renting due to inability to finance a house purchase.
Malaysia's young homebuyers faced the same dilemma. In a survey conducted during the StarProperty.my Fair 2016 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, 81% of over 800 respondents said the property in which they lived in was not affordable, while 55% of first-time homebuyers stated that the government has not addressed the difficulty they faced to purchase their dream home.
However, CBRE suggested the difficulty of home ownership has not deter their determination to find a dream house, as most still insist on finding a place that meet their living standard and expectation in terms of quality, size and location.
With the hype of online shopping ever growing, CBRE also found that while millennials do shop online regularly at an average of 4.7 days per month, physical bricks-and-mortar venues remained important due to the ability to provide experience and social elements in their daily lives.
How about millennials in Malaysia?
The survey corresponded with the findings of Henry Butcher Retail.
Henry Butcher Retail managing director Tan Hai Hsin said while Malaysians are active in online shopping, the transaction amount is still low as compared to the entire retail industry.
“Online retail sales only accounts for less than 2.0% of total retail sales in Malaysia,” he added.
According to Tan, the service sector and the foods and beverages sector are driving strong growth rates in the private consumption component of the Malaysian economy.
“Food and beverage outlets have been one of the most vibrant trades during Malaysia economic uncertainty for the last three years. The rapid growth of coffee cafes, bakery cafes, fine-dining restaurants, overseas chain restaurants and food trucks has proven that urban Malaysians are still willing to spend on good foods or dine in nice environments despite the increasing cost of living,” said Tan.
Both agreed that slower economic growth has an impact on the retail industry. CBRE Research also suggested that a desire to save money for purchasing a home may inhibit future spending on leisure activities.
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