Generation Burb?

The young seem to be moving into older houses, younger. When Douglas Coupland published "Generation X," the 1991 novel that coined the term, he defined the generation's endemic maladies: "homeowner envy"—a jealousy prompted by gruesome housing statistics—and "architectural indigestion"— the obsession wih "cool" living environments. But Gen Y, the larger group coming behind them, is even more home obsessed. Thirteen percent of all Gen Ys, still under the age of 25, own a home, compared with eight percent of Gen Xers, and the average age of a first-time home buyer, currently 32, is thought to be dropping. Together, the two groups have been dubbed "Generation Nest."

The trend makes sense, since Gen Y have come of age in a time of cheap debt and rising house prices. But real-estate insiders say Gen Y is also more likely to renovate or improve a home, data that is being interpreted to mean that Gen Y is moving into first-ring burbs with older housing stock that, not coincidentally, is closer to urban jobs, nightlife and pals.