Auto Makers, Home Builders Target Generation Y Buyers

Biggest market bloc since the Boomers, Millennials have enormous clout

by James McKinnon

(WireNews+Co) - Toronto, Canada - 14 January 2011

Gen Y is shopping again (for cars and homes, this time)  (http://condominium.squarespace.com/condo/2011/1/14/gen-y-is-shopping-again-for-cars-and-homes-this-time.html)

The two biggest purchases most people will ever make in their lives are their home(s) and their car(s). So guess who's ready to make the big purchases?

Generation Y, that's who, (born between 1977 and 1995 according to the US census bureau). The oldest of this often mocked and maligned cohort are now in their early thirties and flexing their economic muscle.

At the Detroit auto show this week a report called "Gaining Speed: Generation Y in the Driver's Seat" was shared with the automakers and here's a statistic that was sure to make them happy:

By 2012, Gen Y, or the Millennial Generation, the largest customer segment since the baby boomers, will make up 40 percent of the car-buying population, and 54 percent of those surveyed expect to replace their vehicle in the next two years. Read more (http://condominium.squarespace.com/condo/2011/1/14/gen-y-is-shopping-again-for-cars-and-homes-this-time.html)