How perceptions impact real estate decisions : an analysis of residential demand in Austin, Texas

This thesis examines how social media trends create perceptions, which influence real estate decision-making within the Millennial generation, ultimately affecting their long-term investment and longevity in the city of Austin, Texas. To investigate the residential real estate market in Austin, specifically within the Millennial generation, I discuss decision factors with the residents and developers, known as stakeholders. By completing a mixed-methods analysis, I determine how Internet-based tendencies affect perceptions and economic realities of specific neighborhoods or the city, thereby affecting the residential real estate market as a whole. Approaching this research as a post-positivist, I hypothesize that the Millennial cohort is currently creating short-term demand for residential development with no long-term intentions of staying in the city. By discovering this future instability of sectors within the Millennial generation, especially in newcomers to the city, I question Austin’s plans, which seem to lack amenities to provide for this cohort’s residential longevity.