• Wealthy Gen Zers favor vintage maximalism when real estate shopping, one agent said.
• It’s more evidence of Gen Z’s love for the “old money” aesthetic.
• I toured an $11.5 million Florida villa that brought these vibes to life with influences from Europe and Latin America.

Gen Z’s love for all things vintage has carried into real estate.

Alexandra Peters, with THE TEAM at ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, recently told me that her wealthy Gen Z clients are lusting after a more maximalist vintage vibe. Peters would know, having sold $45 million in real estate across the Miami area last year to wealthy buyers, including Gen Z, the generation born between 1997 and 2012.

“They value ‘antiques’ and show a desire to collect items that represent previous eras of wealth,” she said, adding that it’s a contrast to the stark and modern homes millennials look for when buying real estate. For Gen Z, vintage can mean the 2000s, she said, the years the oldest of the generation were born. 

Gen Zers are the “yuppies” of this era, Peters added. “They strive to be financially independent and want to make money,” she said. “They’re proud of their successes and like to show it off.”

Their real estate preferences sounds a lot like the “old money” aesthetic that romanticizes the aristocratic upper-crust lifestyle. While WASPy dinner party and country club inspirations are best seen in Gen Z fashion, it can also show up in the grandeur of their interior design. 

Peters took me on a tour of an $11.5 million villa named “Il Sogno” in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, that exemplified some serious European old money vibes. Here’s what it looked like inside.