4 ms·

Not to start of a debate. But wouldn’t most millennials have bought a house by now? Going off Wikipedia definition would this article not be for Generation Z?

Not to start of a debate. But wouldn’t most millennials have bought a house by now? Going off Wikipedia definition would this article not be for Generation Z? Most millennials would now be mid 30’s. Some people I know at that age already have a mortgage.

PhoenixReborn 8y ago
Really depends on your definition of millennial. If we take the [Wikipedia definition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials#Date_and_age_range_definitions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials#Date_and_age_range...) then the youngest millennials would be anywhere from 22 to 25. The older end of millennials would be mid-30s as you say, but anecdotally at least I know relatively few who own a house.
- selectodude 8y ago
  The youngest millennials are probably still 10 years removed from being able to even afford a house.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rndmize 8y ago
The oldest millennials are in their mid 30s, with the youngest being early/mid 20s depending on your definition. Further, I know plenty of early 30s millenials that continue to rent instead of buy for a variety of reasons.
munificent 8y ago
They would if they could, but many can't afford to because of the aforementioned housing prices, so are continuing to rent.
lazyasciiart 8y ago
No, the article is about millennials, who in past generations would have bought a house by now, but in this generation generally have not. As they say, a 27 year old today is half as likely to own a house as they used to be. This page has a chart showing how home ownership has decreased for under 35s. https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/data/housing/ https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/data/housing/
notahacker 8y ago
Just over half of 35-44 year olds have a house or share it with their partner (which includes a lot of the previous generation as well as 'millenials') so it's a stretch to say most. The figure for 25-34 year old families is 25%. Twenty years ago the figure for the same age group was 45%; it was a clear majority less than 10 years before that. That's what the UK housing debate is about.
irrational 8y ago
By the time I was mid 30's (I'm in my mid-40s now) I had 2 bachelor degrees, a masters degree, was married, had a bunch of kids, was in our second house, was at my second company, was working on saving for retirement, etc. But all of my millennial coworkers in their mid 30s are single with no kids, none own a home (they are all in apartments), usually don't stay at a salaried job for more than a few years, they tend to move around a lot (apartment to apartment, state to state, company to company), etc. They are basically where I was when I was in my early 20s. I'll be interested to see what happens over the next 15 years. Will they be where I am now when they reach their early 50s? Or are they forging an entirely new path that doesn't include a spouse, kids, a house, a salaried job, a 401k/roth account, etc.?
- robmaister 8y ago
  As a single data point, I'm 25, have a bachelors degree, engaged, no kids (we adopted a dog a few months ago, though), on my third job and third apartment. I contribute to my 401k up to the match and tuck away a little extra in a Roth IRA, certainly less than the annual contribution limit. Rent and utilities are ~40% of my take-home pay, my car + auto loan + student loans are another ~20% (student loans being the largest chunk). I put the rest towards food, extra payments on my >4% student loans, and savings in a HYSA. At my current rate of savings, it would take around 3 years to save up for a 5% down payment (looking at the median home price for the county I live in). Given that I'll probably want to take some vacations, will have to pay for at least part of my own wedding, might have an unexpected medical emergency, etc, I estimate I won't be able to save enough for a house until my late twenties at the earliest. That's also assuming that I won't drain my emergency fund for the down payment. I know some people who job hop between FAANG and other large tech companies. Each offer is better than what they would have received as a raise should they have chosen to stay with their company. That's just a product of high demand and low unemployment, and also in some cases, being better at tech interviews than actually writing software. I can't speak for renting in the bay area, but in my case, people cycle through apartments because either the landlord is attempting to jack up rent, not managing the property correctly, or to move closer to a new job. I also can't speak for mid-30s, but the general sentiment in my circles around the mid-20s is that almost no one feels financially prepared enough to settle down, buy a house, and have kids. And that's mostly people in tech. The people I do know who have children or own a home (I don't know anyone my age who has both) are all in lower CoL areas.
eli_gottlieb 8y ago
I'm a Millenial, about to turn 30 this year. My wife and I are house-hunting for the first time and discovering that, if we live with roommates instead of having kids, we might be able to afford a mortgage around here! We consider this a huge improvement from renting with roommates. The concept of being able to support children is basically a fantasy, fiscally speaking. And we're among the fortunate professional class.
- hndamien 8y ago
  There actually may be a good advantage to this strategy in that your childcare costs may also reduce with your roommates being able to chip in and be part of the family - even if it is just when you go shopping for an hour. I'm fairly open minded to finding some good friends to work together to overcome the economic reality that this generation is faced with.
- newshorts 8y ago
  We are about 5 years older. We went the opposite direction. House is a fantasy and we have a kid in a single bedroom apartment. My wife’s salary pays for daycare and I pay rent. That’s how we afford to live in the Bay Area. When she starts walking we will have to take a look at our options, but the bay is looking less attractive for our late 30s.

PhoenixReborn 8y ago

Really depends on your definition of millennial. If we take the [Wikipedia definition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials#Date_and_age_range_definitions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials#Date_and_age_range...) then the youngest millennials would be anywhere from 22 to 25. The older end of millennials would be mid-30s as you say, but anecdotally at least I know relatively few who own a house.

selectodude 8y ago
The youngest millennials are probably still 10 years removed from being able to even afford a house.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

rndmize 8y ago

The oldest millennials are in their mid 30s, with the youngest being early/mid 20s depending on your definition. Further, I know plenty of early 30s millenials that continue to rent instead of buy for a variety of reasons.

munificent 8y ago

They would if they could, but many can't afford to because of the aforementioned housing prices, so are continuing to rent.

lazyasciiart 8y ago

No, the article is about millennials, who in past generations would have bought a house by now, but in this generation generally have not. As they say, a 27 year old today is half as likely to own a house as they used to be. This page has a chart showing how home ownership has decreased for under 35s. https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/data/housing/ https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/data/housing/

notahacker 8y ago

Just over half of 35-44 year olds have a house or share it with their partner (which includes a lot of the previous generation as well as 'millenials') so it's a stretch to say most. The figure for 25-34 year old families is 25%. Twenty years ago the figure for the same age group was 45%; it was a clear majority less than 10 years before that. That's what the UK housing debate is about.

irrational 8y ago

By the time I was mid 30's (I'm in my mid-40s now) I had 2 bachelor degrees, a masters degree, was married, had a bunch of kids, was in our second house, was at my second company, was working on saving for retirement, etc. But all of my millennial coworkers in their mid 30s are single with no kids, none own a home (they are all in apartments), usually don't stay at a salaried job for more than a few years, they tend to move around a lot (apartment to apartment, state to state, company to company), etc. They are basically where I was when I was in my early 20s. I'll be interested to see what happens over the next 15 years. Will they be where I am now when they reach their early 50s? Or are they forging an entirely new path that doesn't include a spouse, kids, a house, a salaried job, a 401k/roth account, etc.?

robmaister 8y ago
As a single data point, I'm 25, have a bachelors degree, engaged, no kids (we adopted a dog a few months ago, though), on my third job and third apartment. I contribute to my 401k up to the match and tuck away a little extra in a Roth IRA, certainly less than the annual contribution limit. Rent and utilities are ~40% of my take-home pay, my car + auto loan + student loans are another ~20% (student loans being the largest chunk). I put the rest towards food, extra payments on my >4% student loans, and savings in a HYSA. At my current rate of savings, it would take around 3 years to save up for a 5% down payment (looking at the median home price for the county I live in). Given that I'll probably want to take some vacations, will have to pay for at least part of my own wedding, might have an unexpected medical emergency, etc, I estimate I won't be able to save enough for a house until my late twenties at the earliest. That's also assuming that I won't drain my emergency fund for the down payment. I know some people who job hop between FAANG and other large tech companies. Each offer is better than what they would have received as a raise should they have chosen to stay with their company. That's just a product of high demand and low unemployment, and also in some cases, being better at tech interviews than actually writing software. I can't speak for renting in the bay area, but in my case, people cycle through apartments because either the landlord is attempting to jack up rent, not managing the property correctly, or to move closer to a new job. I also can't speak for mid-30s, but the general sentiment in my circles around the mid-20s is that almost no one feels financially prepared enough to settle down, buy a house, and have kids. And that's mostly people in tech. The people I do know who have children or own a home (I don't know anyone my age who has both) are all in lower CoL areas.

eli_gottlieb 8y ago

I'm a Millenial, about to turn 30 this year. My wife and I are house-hunting for the first time and discovering that, if we live with roommates instead of having kids, we might be able to afford a mortgage around here! We consider this a huge improvement from renting with roommates. The concept of being able to support children is basically a fantasy, fiscally speaking. And we're among the fortunate professional class.

hndamien 8y ago
There actually may be a good advantage to this strategy in that your childcare costs may also reduce with your roommates being able to chip in and be part of the family - even if it is just when you go shopping for an hour. I'm fairly open minded to finding some good friends to work together to overcome the economic reality that this generation is faced with.
newshorts 8y ago
We are about 5 years older. We went the opposite direction. House is a fantasy and we have a kid in a single bedroom apartment. My wife’s salary pays for daycare and I pay rent. That’s how we afford to live in the Bay Area. When she starts walking we will have to take a look at our options, but the bay is looking less attractive for our late 30s.