A lot of people would agree that for them, a house isn’t a home without a dog. More and more evidence shows that millennial Americans more than any other generation have taken this sentiment to heart. So much so, that it significantly influences their decisions when buying a house. According to a poll taken by Suntrust Bank, when asked, millennials who recently bought their first home stated that their dogs were the third biggest motivation for their decision.

In the abstract this might feel surprising but becomes more logical when further examined. Millennials as a whole are more likely to have a pet than any other generation and more often than not, they consider their pets a member of the family. Sometimes, their pets are the only family that they live with.

People’s pets are obviously an important part of their lives and they make decisions based on their pets. If they have a pet whose life is negatively impacted by living in a studio apartment with no dog park around them, more often than not they’ll want to move to a better living situation to benefit their pet. It’s also become increasingly difficult to find apartments and rental agreements that accept pets.

Realtors will note that millennials include their dogs as important factors in their decision making processes. They are perhaps more likely to ask a realtor if there are any local dog parks in the area, or even to run directly to the yard to check it out before considering the inside of the house.

While it’s not surprising that people would include their pet as one of the reasons to buy a home, it is surprising that this reason would be more common than “getting married” and “having children.” However there are some explanations which make it a bit more understandable.

More and more couples are getting pets to test the waters of what it’d be like to have a child together. While sharing a life with a pet is quite different than raising a child, getting a pet does offer insight into what it’d be like to raise a child together. It enables a couple to see what it would be like sharing responsibility for the well-being of a living creature. They get to see each other in action as a caretaker. Taking this into consideration places this as a logical step in the more traditional road of buying a house in order to have a home for oneself and potentially a future family.