The Gist: Millennial homeowners have grown substantially in the past year. As of this month, 32% of Millennials are homeowners. The difference between 18-34-year-olds in Q3 2016 and Q3 2017 who answered they own a home is significant, going from 28% to 31%. And the upward trend is continuing into November 2017 at 32%. That’s a 14% increase of Millennial homeowners over the past year.
No matter what the subject, we’ve all seen a lot of ‘Millennials aren’t doing x’ pieces shared on social media and throughout internet reading, and usually, it has to do with money. Or should I say lack thereof? When it comes to home buying, our data can prove that Millennials are back at it. There are many takes out there as to why Millennials aren’t buying homes, from far stretches like the price of trendy toast, to sheer facts that this age group is still paying back student debt and may have also graduated during the recession with poor job prospects. This may be changing, though; we found a more encouraging story in our ongoing data collection surrounding residential status.
We ask the residential status question to all of our poll respondents as one of our key profiling questions. Narrowing the scope from January of 2013 to today, here’s what the responses look like, segmented by Millennials (18-34-year-olds) only.
Unsurprisingly, Millennials are most likely to be renters, but homeowners come in second with a very close third place for those still living with mom and dad.
That’s great and all, but we wondered how this has changed. Looking at how Millennials have answered this question over time, our data show that starting this time last year, Millennials began to buy houses at a faster rate.
You’ll notice as of November 2017, a month and some change into Q4, 32% of Millennials are homeowners. Interestingly enough, the percentage of Millennials who answered ‘live with mom and dad’ is going down at the same pace. Be it to save money, out of necessity or for other reasons, there is a corresponding parallel decrease. That tells you something.
So, they may be buying toast, they may have debt, but Millennials seem to be making home purchases work for them. Will this upward trend keep growing? Only time will tell. For now, take this where you will, be it business decisions, planning for the next year, or a topic of your Thanksgiving dinner.
