Young People Can and Do Buy Homes

A common myth about millennials — young people born in the ’80s and ’90s — is that they don’t settle down. Whether it’s the fact that they often switch careers, have student loan debt, or are marrying later, the common wisdom about this age group has been that they are unlikely to buy homes. But a new report by the National Association of Realtors has found that, in fact, millennials are the fastest-growing group of home buyers in the United States.

That’s right, according to a news article from NPR, millennials are surprising the experts:

They have some savings. They’re tired of renting. And while people 5 or 10 years older may still be shell-shocked from the housing crash, this younger generation seems ready to start that new chapter — even if it didn’t go well for their parents.

Data from the National Association of Realtors indicates that young people ages 18-35 make up 35% of home buyers. That share has consistently grown over the last four years. And it’s slightly larger than the 26% of home buyers that belong to the Generation X cohort. To learn more, you can read the whole report here.

Are you debating between renting and buying? There are lots of online tools available to help you make this decision, including these calculators from Freddie Mac and a video series below from Khan Academy.