While millennials (aged 18-37) make up more than a third of today’s new construction buyers (36%), older home buyers account for the vast majority, including Gen Xers (aged 38-52, 30%), baby boomers (aged 53-72, 28%) and even members of the silent generation (aged 73+, 6%).

Based on data from the Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2017, here’s how to market beyond millennials and effectively reach these older buyers.

What they search for
A single-family detached house is the unquestioned top choice of property types considered among all generations of new construction buyers. Notably, 41% of silent generation buyers — more than any other generation — consider a non-single-family detached home, such as a townhouse or condo/co-op.

Of the older generations, Gen Xers are more likely to consider a new construction home (57%) than baby boomers (40%) and silent generation buyers (20%). And more than 1 in 4 Gen Xers (26%) consider a lot or land without an existing home on it.

The takeaway: Market home preferences by generation, and promote your strengths as selling points to appeal to different households.

How they search
The older the home buyer, the longer they take to search. Millennials take an average of 15.5 weeks to search for their home, but this increases to almost 18 weeks for Gen Xers (17.8 weeks), 19 weeks for baby boomers (18.9 weeks) and more than five months for silent generation buyers (22.2 weeks).

An online resource like a website is the top choice of millennials (88 %). Gen Xers also have an affinity for online resources (79%), as do baby boomers (70%). It’s also significant that slightly more than half of silent generation buyers (51%) use an online resource.

The takeaway: A smart strategy should include a mix of online and offline resources.

Where they search
Younger buyers are most likely to use social media during their search: 44% of millennials and almost one-third of Gen Xers (32%) use social media, which is double, or more, the share of baby boomers (16%) and silent generation buyers (11%) who use a social networking site.

While laptop and desktop computers are the top choice for all four generations who access resources online, they use a variety of platforms to get there: web, mobile web and apps. To access builder sites, most buyers use a laptop, but mobile is still important to them. Having a mobile-optimized site is critical for getting in front of these buyers.

The takeaway: Diversify. With 38% of new construction buyers first learning of their home using online resources, advertising online is an effective way to expose your inventory to a vast audience of buyers of all ages, on all platforms and devices.

For more insights, download this infographic on top features home buyers want, watch this video, or visit our resource center. To learn more about how you can leverage the value of Zillow Group’s industry leading data to market your homes online, visit our builder advertising page, or give us a call at 877-419-0589.