10 Lifestyle Trends to Watch For in 2012

Looking for a niche to fill next year? These trends are likely to influence how consumers live for much longer than the next 12 months.

Living Smaller

While there’s danger in prognosticating which direction the housing market will take next, the fact that, according to the Urban Land Institute, boomers and their children, Generation Y, make up half the country’s population makes it a safe bet that these groups are likely to be strong drivers of where the housing market will need to go—and both those groups are positioned to be looking for something on the small side. Projections from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies indicate that persons living alone will make up the largest share of household growth for the foreseeable future, as boomers lose spouses to either death or divorce and as the rising generation finally moves out on their own. The trend also dovetails nicely with the green movement, given that smaller homes use less material to build and take less energy to condition. And then there’s always pure practicality: Smaller homes can cost less, which means there’s a greater chance the bank will approve that mortgage application.

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