Dennehy: Traditionally, in search of affordability, people would go further away and commute further. For a while now in Southern California, we’ve seen kind of a premium given – people want to be close to their work. . . . They don’t want to trade a convenient location for a long commute, and I think that’s a long-term trend. You can buy more house if you go further away, but I think people are willing to pay a premium to live in their communities or close to work. And they want something that’s new con- struction, that’s got all the bells and whistles of today’s housing and en- ergy features, but they want to have it in an existing community that al- ready has services. They don’t want to move two hours away. LBBJ: Is there anything you’d like to add or stress? Dennehy: I think we have a fun- damental shift underway in housing, where people used to see a house as an investment. I think there’s more of a focus on, ‘I’m going to live here.’ So, it’s more important that the housing is in a community where somebody wants to be located. That’s really ultimately what it is. ‘This is where I want to be, this is the type of product I want to live in, this is what I can afford.’ It’s a focus on what’s attainable and that seems to be a little bit different. Millennials don’t want to stretch to buy more house than they need. They want to buy enough house, and they want to buy it where they want it. . . . A lot of our communities have been significantly rehabbed. Just think of how many older neighborhoods are being revitalized with retail and enter- tainment. People want to be near that. They don’t want to move to a place where there’s no “there” there. LBBJ: Is that the norm moving forward? Dennehy: Absolutely. We’re not just going to keep sprawling outward and outward. We’re going to sort of remake the neighborhoods. And that’s typical, like in New York and older cities, you see the re-gentrification of the neigh- borhoods as needs change over time. ■ 23 “Just think of how many older neighborhoods are being revitalized with retail and entertainment. People want to be near that. They don’t want to move to a place where there’s no ‘there’ there.” Peter Dennehy, Senior Vice President Meyers Research LLC According to Peter Dennehy of Meyers Research, homebuyers are willing to pay premiums in order to live close to work, transportation and other amenities. Nearby neighborhood parks and community open spaces are especially appealing to multi-generational households. 2017_18Pages_OlsonCopy_PortAnniversary 12/22/17 11:31 AM Page 23