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What is Keeping the Younger Generations From Purchasing Their First Home?

Submitted by Cheryl Bourland on October 17, 2023 - 3:57pm
man signing documentSome people might think that young people are the fastest growing sector of the population that are buying homes. That isn’t quite the case. People are waiting longer and longer to make the decision to purchase their own home. What might be the reason for this trend?
 
There is no denying that student loan debt is a huge hurdle to overcome when deciding to apply for a mortgage. Having that debt loom large in someone’s financial portfolio can make the chances of getting a reasonable mortgage rate difficult. For this reason the younger generations are waiting longer and longer to buy a house than their parents may have. In general people are overall waiting to make the huge leap to having what many may see as the american standard. Marriage, house and family are just not on the agenda of today’s youth.
 
You might be surprised to learn that the average age of a homebuyer is now 36. The more impressive stat from 2022 is that only 26% of homebuyers were purchasing for the first time. This is a huge change from just 2010 when that percentage was 50%! 
 
Some of the issues facing younger homebuyers is the fact that the homes just aren’t available to them to but even if they had the money to do so. More older home owners are choosing to stay in their homes longer making the inventory scarce. With low inventory as well as a rise in home prices makes the rush to buy a home seem like a daunting task. Inflation has also had its hand in the troubles with buying a new homes with recent hikes in interest rates having a negative effect on mortgage rates and curbing new applications.  
 
If you have plans to start the home buying process or if you are setting up to sell your home please do not hesitate to contact our office with any questions. Please contact one of our agents who can will do all they can to assist you.