Young prospective home buyers in their 20s and 30s who were once reluctant to purchase are now driving the housing market recovery during the pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Even prior to the pandemic, millennial buyers were starting to increase in number, accounting for more than half of all new-home loans early last year. They have consistently stayed above that level in the first months of this year, too, realtor.com® data shows.
The large size of this generation has prompted predictions that they will make a lasting impact on the housing market. Millennials have now surpassed baby boomers as the largest living adult generation in the U.S., Pew Research Center data shows. The largest segment of millennial births occurred in 1990, so that cohort is turning 30 this year. “We anticipate as they turn 31 and 32, we’ll just see homebuying demand grow,” Odeta Kushi, deputy chief economist at First American Financial Corp., told the Journal.
First American predicts millennials could purchase at least 15 million homes over the next decade.
Existing-home sales surged nearly 25% in July, reaching their highest seasonally adjusted annual rate since December 2006, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. First-time buyers comprised 34% of sales in July, up from 32% a year earlier.
The pandemic and low interest rates—which are under 3%—may be offering incentive for more young adults to finally buy. “Millennials, they’re roaring into home buying age,” Rick Arvielo, chief executive of mortgage lender New American Funding, told the Journal. “What the industry’s been talking about for a decade is whether they’re going to follow their predecessor generations in terms of their desire to own homes. … They have the same desires.”
Source: “Millennials Help Power This Year’s Housing-Market Rebound,” The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 27, 2020) [Log-in required.]
