Hotspot Niche: Multigenerational Housing
Housing projects aimed at accommodating extended families--where children, parents, and grandparents can all live under one roof--is becoming a growing real estate niche, The New York Times reports.

Multigenerational housing is particularly targeted to meet the needs of a growing immigrant population.

''Immigrants are a source of growing demand, and their household composition is different in fundamental ways from the domestic-born,'' says Kermit Baker, chief economist of the American Institute of Architects.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, the region has seen rapid growth in its multigenerational housing demand from immigrant populations, notes Cheryl O'Conner, government affairs consultant to the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area.

Asian buyers, in particular, she says ''come with the whole family. They come with their parents and grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins” and seek housing options that can accommodate extended family members.

Census figures recently released shows that over the last decade the Bay Area's Hispanic and Asian populations each increased by more than 350,000. Those groups are about twice as likely as whites to live in multigenerational households, according to a 2010 study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Yet, the design preferences in homes for multigenerational families can vary among ethnicities, income levels, and social classes. For example, Amar Gupta, managing editor of the Indian-interest magazine Siliconeer, says South Asian immigrants likely will bypass town houses and show a preference toward large, detached single-family homes built across either one or two floors.

Other design considerations for multigenerational homes also includes more universal features and a home, for example, that can accommodate an elderly person with a first floor bedroom. Also, some homes may have no master suite but instead have equally sized large bedrooms and bathrooms that are easy to share.

As for immigrant buyers who are not looking for a home to accommodate extended family members, they are showing a preference for homes that can at least accommodate comfortable extended visits by family members, says Sandra Vivanco, a San Francisco architect. As such, they are looking for a home design that is flexible since the composition of their households may keep changing.

Source: “Multigenerational Housing Is a Real Estate Growth Niche,” The New York Times (April 22, 2011)