5 Game-Changing Apartment Amenities for Millennials

Landlords looking at apartment amenities for millennials often gravitate toward technology upgrades like Wi-Fi, smart devices, and overall digital connectivity. While all valid features, when focusing solely on that technology, they may underestimate how active millennials are and lose out on valuable opportunities to improve revenue by catering to those lifestyle needs.

Landlords who want to appeal to this epic generation—currently about 71 million strong—need to upgrade their spaces with the amenities that are important to sustaining a healthy lifestyle and convenience.

Five Lifestyle-Based Apartment Amenities for Millennials

One thing that most experts will agree on is that millennials are experience- and convenience-driven. They’re more likely to spend money on activities and travel than they are on fitness center memberships, driving ranges, and other things. Landlords need to focus on this when considering the amenities that appeal to this generation. Five options include;

1. Business centers:

Millennials are intrigued by telecommuting, with 69% of them reporting they will trade other work benefits for flexible workspace options. Of course, setting up a home office isn’t always feasible—and can be quite isolating for this social group. Offering co-working spaces, in the form of business centers, support their desire to telecommute—and allows landlords to charge a premium for units.

2. Driving ranges:

There are 6.4 million millennial golfers, making up about 28% of the total golfing population. However, country club memberships are expensive and public ranges are in short supply, meaning that many millennials look to driving ranges to get a game in. If you have the space available, this can be easy to implement and improve property appeal for this tenant group.

3. Gyms:

With millennials making up 35% of core health club memberships, we see that this generation, although active, may not appreciate regular gym membership fees. Gyms don’t have to be expensive to set up as an amenity to meet the need for convenient fitness. As younger generations are more focused on high-intensity health programs over fitness regimens, they will likely value having a gym on-site.

4. Wellness centers:

Millennials are among the healthiest generations, with 53% of them reporting that health and wellness are among their top priorities—coming ahead of both friends and career prospects. Wellness centers work in conjunction with gyms to provide both mental and physical health assistance. Individuals can get nutritional counseling, find doctor referrals, and establish healthy goals in these spaces. Millennials enjoy spa, botanical, salt caves, and acupressure private treatment rooms that can be built into these centers.

5. Coffee shops:

Millennials consume 44% of the coffee in the US, so grab-and-go coffee stations are an obvious boon to any millennial-focused community. Landlords can create spaces for self-serve coffee near the business center, and then partner with a local shop or bring in an automatic coffee machine to provide a valuable amenity for increasing tenant retention.

By providing amenities millennials desire, landlords can appeal to this group of consumers and justify rental increases. These amenities can often enhance tenant satisfaction, as millennials do the math and see how much they save with onsite facilities that come included with the monthly rent.

Working with Contractors for More than Just Construction

Contractors who build amenities can be excellent advisors when a landlord wants to upgrade a property to appeal to millennials. They can provide the details needed to help determine the ROI of any amenity. It’s crucial to calculate the break-even point of the investment, as no landlord is going to make their money back immediately. Instead, they’ll see returns through higher rental rates, improved retention, and overall property value increases.

It can be difficult to predict future values from a current upgrade, but construction partners who have experience with the best apartment amenities to add will have a better understanding of the market and its unique demands.

With ideas like smart thermostats, dog parks, recycling services, and other millennial-friendly additions to these five, a partner can help determine, from their prior projects, what are the most likely amenities to help a property succeed and appeal to the millennial market.

The apartment amenities for millennials with the highest ROI are all about supporting lifestyle and convenience.

With offerings like gyms, wellness centers, coffee stations, and driving ranges, landlords support this active group of renters and justify higher rent prices. Meanwhile, business centers offer telecommuters the space they need to work from home and appeal to the growing pool of individuals who don’t work in traditional offices. Landlords who want to capture this lucrative market should work with an established construction firm who understands how to choose the best apartment amenities for millennials.

REIG Construction helps California landlords select the best apartment amenities for millennials while also minimizing the impact on their bottom line. Contact us to learn more about our past projects in multifamily housing.