Most people ask me “What is all the building going on in Westchester?” Even more people ask me “Why are they building so many apartments?” The answers have a lot more to do with new societal trends than they do with real estate. Westchester has morphed from a sleepy bedroom community that rarely saw any interest from developers outside the county to a vibrant county attracting major developers from not only New York City but from throughout the U.S.
Millennials (who at 75 million strong now compose almost a quarter of our population and almost 40% of our workforce) are marrying later and having children later. They prefer to live in cities or towns where they can walk to transportation (Metro-North), restaurants, entertainment, retail and services. They likely do not own or lease cars, but will use trains, Ubers and Zipcars when they need to travel. They are content living in small studio or one-bedroom apartments, so long as there are other amenities in their building such as game rooms, business centers, swimming pools and roof decks or barbecue areas. Their lifestyles do not involve much entertaining in their apartments, but do involve hanging out with their friends and fellow tenants in the common/amenity areas of their building.
