Millennial Homeownership Still Lagging Behind Previous Generations
Millennials are buying homes at a lower rate than generations before, and an increasingly difficult housing market could exacerbate a problem that has far-reaching impacts on the entire economy.
Substantially fewer of those born between 1981 and 1996 are homeowners today than Gen X and baby boomers were at the same age. Housing affordability is taking a toll on all generations, but the lack of entry-level homes and the dearth of new builds are particularly impacting millennials.
According to the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, homeownership rates for millennials sat at 51.5% in 2022, compared to 56.5% for baby boomers in 1990 and 58.2% for Gen X in 2006.
From the end of 2019 to the end of 2022, the median sales price of new houses sold in the U.S. has ballooned over 42% to $457,800. Concurrently, 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates rose from 3.74% to 6.42% largely in response to the Federal Reserve hiking the federal funds rate to fight inflation.
This jump in both the price of new homes and cost of taking out a mortgage have made the last six months one of the most unaffordable times to buy a home since 2006, according to the Atlanta Fed’s Home Ownership Affordability Monitor.
One of the chief factors contributing to lower rates of millennial homeownership is the overall cost of housing in the U.S. For nearly half a century, household incomes rose far slower than the price of a new home when adjusting for inflation.
In fact, the median cost of a typical 20% down payment was about 85% of the average millennial household's salary last year. That's considerably higher than the 75% for Gen X and 64% for baby boomers when they were the same age.
There are many factors driving skyrocketing home prices,
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