Why millennials aren't rushing to buy homes

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Why millennials aren't rushing to buy homes

Source: CBS Money Watch
As the economy continues to recover, the millennial generation is still feeling the longer-term effects of
the recession due to underemployment and low salaries combined with high student debt and uncertainty
about the future. These factors have affected the housing market, and the renter status of this generation
was examined in a new survey by LendingTree.
Making sense of the story
 Only 43.4 percent of college-educated millennials ages 24 to 35 own a home. When asked "What
would allow you to consider purchasing your first home?" 67.4 percent said they'd need more
income.
 Roughly a third want to move somewhere they like better before buying, 28.7 percent want to pay
off student loans before becoming homeowners, and 25.7 percent want to put off owning a home
until they've traveled or invested.
 However, only 4.4 percent of non-homeowner millennials have no interest in ever owning a
home, thereby showing that homeownership remains an aspiration.
 Many millennials are ignoring financial issues. For example, 21.2 percent of millennials said they
do not know their current credit score, and another 11 percent said they have never even checked
it.

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 The survey found that 4.8 percent of millennials have less than $5,000 in savings, short of the
three to six months of living expenses that financial institutions advise.
 Roughly 9.5 percent of millennials cited said they do not have or maintain a savings account,
which perhaps reflects their distrust of banks following the recession.
 Median household income in the U.S. hit roughly $52,000 last year, according to the Census
Bureau, which is well below the $56,400 those households were making in pre-recession 2007
and similarly distant from the all-time high of $57,000 last seen in 1997.