These Are the Housing Trends of the Future

Over the last decade, the hous­ing mar­ket has changed dras­ti­cal­ly to meet demands in a dynam­ic social cli­mate. The Home Improve­ment Research Insti­tute (HIRI) teamed up with Trend Hunter to explore what the future of hous­ing may look like in a world shaped by a grow­ing pas­sion for issues such as cli­mate change, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and minimalism. 

The Future of Hous­ing Trend Report calls atten­tion to three new trends in neigh­bor­hood design and sus­tain­able liv­ing prac­tices. From the emer­gence of eco-friend­ly mate­ri­als and 3D-print­ed tech­nol­o­gy to designs focused on cul­tur­al inspi­ra­tion and reversible archi­tec­ture, the hous­ing mar­ket should con­tin­ue to evolve as the con­sumer mind­set shifts. 

Here’s a high-lev­el break­down of emerg­ing trends and insights that may impact your business:

Hyper-Local Neighborhoods

Archi­tects, devel­op­ers and local gov­ern­ments are propos­ing neigh­bor­hoods cen­tered on com­mu­ni­ty build­ing and local busi­ness­es. These spaces are intend­ed to be car-free, with all neces­si­ties reach­able via a short walk or bike ride. 

Insight: As urban cen­ters expand in size and pop­u­la­tion, con­sumers are rec­og­niz­ing that their qual­i­ty of life is suf­fer­ing — whether that be due to alien­ation, afford­abil­i­ty issues, lengthy com­mutes or pol­lu­tion. As a result, many are mov­ing away from city cen­ters and turn­ing to com­mu­ni­ty-based neigh­bor­hoods. In doing so, these indi­vid­u­als gain a sense of belong­ing, because they can facil­i­tate stronger con­nec­tions with peo­ple near­by while also sat­is­fy­ing the need for con­ve­nience and clean­er air.

Sustainable Housing

With sus­tain­abil­i­ty as a top pri­or­i­ty, archi­tects and design­ers are embrac­ing dif­fer­ent eco-friend­ly concepts. 

• “Reversible design” is the archi­tec­ture of struc­tures that can be eas­i­ly decon­struct­ed, that can be reused or with parts that can be removed and added easily.
• 3D-print­ed hous­ing is mak­ing the process of design­ing nat­ur­al, dis­as­ter-proof hous­ing eas­i­er. These homes offer sus­tain­able and pro­tec­tive con­struc­tion that avoids struc­tur­al issues in the case of extreme weather.

Insight: Con­tem­po­rary con­sumers are wary of the impend­ing con­se­quences of cli­mate change, and a large num­ber are becom­ing increas­ing­ly aware that sim­ply shift­ing their lifestyle and prac­tic­ing eco­log­i­cal mind­ful­ness are like­ly not enough. As a result, many are demand­ing that brands and cre­ators take the envi­ron­ment into con­sid­er­a­tion. In doing so, these indi­vid­u­als feel more at ease and proud of their advo­ca­cy for a bet­ter future.

Simplified Living

Build­ing off of the desire for more sus­tain­able liv­ing, the emer­gence of sim­ple, more min­i­mal­ist design empha­sizes home­own­ers’ func­tions and needs. Home designs such as tow­able mini cab­ins and tiny homes allow for func­tion­al­i­ty while inte­ri­or trends such as the Japan­di aes­thet­ic inspire pared-back inside spaces that pay homage to nat­ur­al col­ors and materials.

Insight: Con­tem­po­rary con­sumers in fast-paced urban cen­ters are look­ing to bal­ance the demands of their dai­ly lifestyle with a com­fort­able home envi­ron­ment. Many are pri­or­i­tiz­ing min­i­mal­ist designs and addi­tion­al spaces that can opti­mize and ele­vate their liv­ing sit­u­a­tion with­out com­pro­mis­ing aes­thet­ic appeal.

As soci­ety evolves, what mat­ters in our homes evolves as well. Learn more about the future of hous­ing by gain­ing full access to this Trend Hunter report, includ­ed with your HIRI mem­ber­ship.

Smart Homes

The sec­ond half of 2020 saw the glob­al smart-home mar­ket grow about 13% in rev­enue com­pared to 2019. Fur­ther, HIRI com­mis­sioned a report from glob­al mar­ket intel­li­gence firm Omdia on behalf of mem­bers that fore­casts the glob­al smart-home mar­ket will exceed $167 bil­lion in 2025 (up from about $58.5 bil­lion in 2020).

As the mar­ket con­tin­ues to grow at break­neck speed, com­pa­nies are rac­ing to inno­vate home tech­nol­o­gy inte­gra­tions, imag­in­ing what’s next in smart con­trols for light­ing, ener­gy effi­cien­cy and more.

Insight: The appeal of con­nect­ed homes for con­sumers is that they’re able to stream­line and orga­nize day-to-day house­hold tasks and rou­tines. Between work, rais­ing chil­dren, social lives and/​or main­tain­ing per­son­al health and hob­bies, con­sumers are increas­ing­ly turn­ing to brands that make their dai­ly activ­i­ties feel more manageable. 

How­ev­er, con­sumers shop­ping for smart-home devices are not only shop­ping to improv­ing their qual­i­ty of life. In cer­tain prod­uct cat­e­gories, smart-home devices have quick­ly become an aid for the resale val­ue of the home. This will mat­ter more dur­ing shifts from a sell­er’s to buy­er’s mar­ket and dur­ing a cool­er hous­ing mar­ket in general.

Emphasis on Outdoor Living

Prod­uct pur­chase inci­dence for out­door liv­ing prod­ucts dou­bled over a six-year peri­od, from 17% in 2015 to 31% in 2021. Today, there are sev­er­al rea­sons to believe this trend will continue.

• Near­ly 8 in 10 (78%) home­own­ers report­ed mak­ing out­door home improve­ments to be able to stay in their house as they age.

• Almost a quar­ter (73%) of home­own­ers said they make improve­ments to help them main­tain a healthy home.

Insight: From a well­ness per­spec­tive, peo­ple are increas­ing­ly aware of the ben­e­fits of spend­ing time out­doors. From a prac­ti­cal stand­point, invest­ing in well-designed home improve­ments for out­door spaces can sig­nif­i­cant­ly increase the val­ue of a home.

Whether dri­ven by a desire to cre­ate a com­fort­able and func­tion­al space for liv­ing, enter­tain­ing and enjoy­ing fresh air or by the prospect of cre­at­ing a more valu­able home, home­own­ers will con­tin­ue improv­ing their out­door liv­ing spaces for years.

Brands can cap­i­tal­ize on this trend by offer­ing a wide vari­ety of out­door prod­ucts or by includ­ing out­door design in their list of services.

Maintenance-Free Options

Accord­ing to HIRI research, home­own­ers report the need to repair or main­tain the house as a pri­ma­ry rea­son for pur­chas­ing many home improve­ment products.

Exam­ples of main­te­nance-free home improve­ment prod­ucts include:

• Com­pos­ite decking

• Vinyl sid­ing

• Fiber­glass windows

These prod­ucts require min­i­mal upkeep and are designed to last for many years with­out the need for paint­ing, stain­ing or oth­er main­te­nance tasks.

Insight: Main­te­nance-free prod­ucts can be a cost-effec­tive solu­tion in the long run. While they may be more expen­sive to pur­chase ini­tial­ly, they can save home­own­ers mon­ey on main­te­nance and replace­ment costs over time.

Brands offer­ing main­te­nance-free home improve­ment prod­ucts should mar­ket their offer­ings accord­ing to home­own­er val­ues such as con­ve­nience, sus­tain­abil­i­ty and cost-effectiveness.

It is impor­tant to remem­ber that as soci­ety evolves, what mat­ters in con­sumers homes evolves as well. Learn more about the future of hous­ing by access­ing mar­ket trends and research includ­ed with your HIRI mem­ber­ship, or con­sid­er attend­ing the upcom­ing HIRI Insights Sum­mit.