NOTEBOOK – One Good Read: Urban Institute attempts to solve puzzle of low homeownership among millennials
KENT DARR Jul 27, 2018 | 4:35 pm
1 min read time
190 wordsReal Estate and Development, The Insider NotebookThe Urban Institute has gone to the trouble of quantifying the reasons the homeownership rate among millennials trails previous generations, and it has done us the favor of recommending some policy changes that might put anyone born between 1981 and 1996 into a home of their own. A lot of folks who follow trends among renters and homeowners kind of kick around the idea that as millennials age, they follow every other generation and start building some equity and wealth in the form of four walls and a roof. Not necessarily so, according to the Urban Institute report. In 2015, homeownership among the highly scrutinized age group stood at 37 percent, about 8 percentage points lower than among Gen X and baby boomers at the same age. The reasons millennials rent more than they buy have been fairly well cataloged: delayed marriage, delayed childbearing, high student loan debt, higher rents and greater racial diversity. To turn things around, the Urban Institute recommends spending more time talking to young adults about the financial benefits of homeownership, using technology to streamline the mortgage process, expanding credit assessment criteria and easing land-use restrictions.
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