Millennials and a new view on haunted houses.

Traditionally, safety, serenity, piece of mind and refuge were important aspects of the quality-of-life homeowners looked forward to in their newly purchased abode. 

A home is where you can set your keys down, take off your bra, and drink directly out of the milk jug in your fridge. 

Millennials may not prioritize that safe place aspect of home ownership as highly as previous generations. 

I’m not referring to lessened security measures, or like sleeping with the front door open. 

We’re talking something very specific, and if you rack your brain right now for top 3 things I could be referring to, you probably won’t guess it! 

Poltergeists baby! 

We’re talking poltergeists in July, it’s never the wrong month to get Spooky, it’s a vibe. 

So it turns out a big ole 28% of millennial men are more stoked on purchasing a home with purported ghostly activity. It’s possible the overarching culture of hyper sharing in pursuit of likes could fuel the heightened interest in purchasing a house that could be haunted. Man oh man the followers you could gain with some bonafide apparition footage on your live feed. 

A 2024 Statista study showed 41% of women believe in ghosts and hauntings. 32 % of men say they are on board with the spirits in the white sheets. 

Homebuyers however, are predominately not down with the ghost stuff. 43% of homebuyers would say “hard pass” to a home with sorted sketchy haunted history. That number might indicate these folks maybe kind of sort of believe in ghosts, right? Because the assumption behind not wanting to live in a “haunted” house is they are probably definitely maybe a little bit scared. 

It’s reasonable, no one wants to be on edge or experienced anything menacing when they’re showering or doing dishes or laying in bed at night. 

We go to acted haunted houses for a thrill, but being interested in living in one, is a new millennial phenomenon. 

It’s not what we might have guessed the new it thing would be in real estate, it’s not one we could have likely predicted or seen coming. 

That’s a truism in the land of real estate, you can never really know what’s around the corner- things turn on a dime. Butcher block is out trended by stainless steel, cultural fads pop up from wherever they hail and influence what buyers prefer or search out in the housing market. Examples could be trad wives vs clean girl style. Vastly different and simultaneously popular and culturally prevalent. 

Millennials buying homes are the first generation that grew up on the internet, the rando poltergeist trend is an example of how existing online so heavily impacts a generations priorities and boundaries on what they do want or will not accept when it comes to buying a home. 

Also, we’re excited to see anything pop up where we get to talk about ghosts and selling homes, it’s fun and it’s July so it’s basically Halloween. Just kidding but seriously though Target will have it’s Halloween swag coming in hot any day now.