Millennials faces high student debt, soaring rents, and increasing property prices. But a new study shows they aren’t the generation who is dealing with the greatest hardships when it comes to breaking into the housing market.
Instead, Generation X—those born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s—is the age segment that is having the toughest time saving up to buy a new home, a report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows of about 4,000 responses from non-homeowners.
Generation Xers “are at an age where they may have children, car loans, credit card debt,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s managing director of survey research. “They’re also less likely to be able to move back home [with their parents] to pay down debt.”
About 47 percent of Gen X survey respondents reported having difficulty saving for a down payment compared to 23 percent of millennials.
Generation X may have felt the brunt of the financial crisis. “They were very likely to have purchased a home in the housing boom and then be hit by the housing bust,” Lautz says. “Generation Xers were most likely to have a home that was underwater.”
Without enough home equity, Gen Xers have struggled to trade up to larger homes as their families have grown.
Millennials, however, still comprise the largest overall share of non-owners, according to the NAR survey.
Eighty-two percent of non-owners, across age groups, say they aspire to own a home in the future. But the reality is that many still can’t afford it.
“They believe that homeownership is part of their American dream,” says Lautz. “[But they’re] feeling priced out of the homebuying market.”
Source: “Which Generation Is Struggling the Most to Buy a Home? (It’s Not Millennials),” realtor.com® (Feb. 7, 2018)
