07/24

Just because millennials aren’t using doorbells, doesn’t mean they aren’t buying homes.

It’s true – millennials have been slower to enter the housing market. With lifestyles and finances being vastly different from previous generations, millennials have put homeownership on the backburner.

But as a majority of this generation enters their early 30s, these first-time homebuyers have been the dominate force in real estate.

Last year, Redfin asked U.S. residents how they were going to afford their mortgage – after releasing the same survey again this year, there has been some key differences with how millennials are using their finances.

51% of millennial homebuyers indicated plans to use one or more of the following strategies below to cover their mortgage payments, down from 60% last year:

Do you plan to do any of the following to help you pay your new mortgage? Select any that apply:”

It looks like just 10% of millennials plan to get help from parents or another family member for their mortgage payment, down from 17% last year.

Redfin Chief Economist, Daryl Fairweather, explains, “Over the last couple of years, millennial household incomes have been rising […] millennials have postponed getting married, having children, and buying a home while they got their careers on track, but now that they are more established in their careers and earning more, I expect to see more millennials buying homes and checking off those major life milestones.”