Editor's note: Alex Tsetsenekos is vice president and general manager of home insurance with LexisNexis.

Whether you call them Millennials, Gen Y, or the echo-boomer generation, young buyers 18 to 34 years old constitute 27% of the U.S. population, with $1.3 trillion in annual spending. The 80 million strong market segment is the single largest demographic in the U.S. today, according toDeloitte's 2010 report “Generation Y and the Insurance Industry.”

And Millennials will be the next wave of homeowners, the study predicts. Although only 35% were homeowners in 2010, that number is projected to increase to 67% by 2015. As the housing market continues to recover, Millennials will step into a homeownership role, increasing the volume of personal lines insurance opportunities for agents and brokers.