Published September 2001

Apartments change
with the times

Remember the experience of renting your first apartment? For many of us, it was connected with college or our first “real” job.

Often, it was a rental house or duplex, sometimes, a larger multi-unit complex.

In the 1970s, the apartment shopper would have entered the cabana building of a larger apartment complex and been attracted to the various amenities the property offered. There’s a good chance the property offered a pool, a Jacuzzi, pinball machines, a pingpong table, the large “party” room, sauna, etc.

Typical renters often pictured themselves mingling with other renters in the Jacuzzi and listening to the latest disco release on the cabana jukebox.

The apartment market has seen quite a change in the past three decades as developers react to changes in customer lifestyle tastes and interests. Today’s renters, goes the theory, want different choices than their counterparts of the ’70s or ’80s.

Flip through newspaper ads today, and you’re likely to see an amenity package vastly changed from a generation ago. Residents today might have access to such amenities as a mini indoor theatre, full-scale exercise equipment and a large, outdoor pool. Properties today offer walking trails, water amenities and more.

People change. Times change. But the major influence of the past 20 to 30 years in the rental market has been the aging of the baby-boom generation.

From a demographic standpoint, this group always has been a bubble of demand for everything from consumer goods to rental housing. And their interests and buying habits have tended to follow the life cycle of a typical American through his or her teens, 20s, 30s and so on.

But whereas the baby boomers of the ’70s and ’80s were interested in mingling, meeting and partying together in the apartment complex, today’s 20-somethings are more likely to be interested in technology, entertainment, safety and privacy.

Changes in social behavior have had direct influences on apartment consumer demand. Most complexes today, for example, have washer/dryer units built in the apartment rather than in centrally located areas. This is a direct result of increased crime in the ’80s and early ’90s, as renters today don’t look favorably on hauling laundry across the parking lot to a central location. Apartment property developers have reacted to these changes and have built their product accordingly.

The future may seem to hold vast changes in what apartment dwellers will look for 20 years from now. But while change is inevitable, the likelihood is that apartment consumers in 2020 will be more grounded in simplicity. At least, that’s the trend based on our view today.

Their busy lives are likely to dictate less stimulation at home rather than more. For this reason, developers must not stray far from the basics, no matter what the trends of the day suggest. In the ’60s, images of lifestyles in the year 2000 suggested we’d all be eating space food sticks and putting on Star Trek-looking clothes in the bedrooms of our pods. And, of course, that hasn’t happened.

Ultimately, it seems, well-located complexes that offer safe, clean and affordable housing always stand the test of time.

Tom Hoban is CEO of Everett-based Coast Real Estate Services, a property management and real estate advisory company specializing in multi-family and commercial investment properties. He can be contacted by phone at 425-339-3638 or send e-mail to tomhoban@coastmgt.com.

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