Here’s why Millennial homebuyers are braving today’s real estate market. Realtor.com’s recent survey with Harris X looks at the reasons Millennial homebuyers are chasing the American dream. Many have been in the market a year encountering multiple offers and bidding wars as roadblocks to homeownership.
According to the survey one-third of first-time homebuyers haven’t been able to find a home within their budget. Realtor.com’s latest Weekly Housing Trends Report shows median listing prices up 15.6% year-over-year, for 32 consecutive weeks of double-digit price growth. Inventory constraints continue as the total number of homes for sale was down 52% from the same week a year ago. On average, homes are selling eight days faster than last year.
Realtor.com Senior Economist George Ratiu points to some of the survey’s key findings. “The first highlight was the importance that millennials place on owning a home and wanting to build equity. For a generation much-maligned over the past decade over its perceived shunning of traditional values related to ownership—be it housing or cars—millennials have shown strong affinity for housing as their stage of life progressed.”
Despite the inherent challenges in today’s market Millennials are determined to hold the winning offer, most likely above the asking price. What’s motivating these Millennials? Realtor.com’s research reveals that “nearly two-thirds of Millennials and 45% of Gen Z say a desire to be a homeowner is the main reason they are buying a home.”
Kat Carroll Broker Associate at Compass in Palo Alto works with Silicon Valley Millennials helping them become homeowners. A Millennial herself Carroll’s insights into why Millennials are determined to buy are spot on. “There are two reasons why they are buying right now. Number one they can and number two they want to.” Carroll points out that many of her buyers are in tech and have “watched their stock price increase 30 % over the last few years. Some buyers were renters and on the fence about buying before the pandemic. They were spending money traveling. Then the pandemic happened, and they saw the value of having their space that they owned.”
Millennials want to be homeowners for many of the same reasons their baby boomer parents did. “I want to live in a space that I can invest in improving, and “I want to build equity” are ranked among the top motivators for buying according to realtor.com’s survey.
These buyers are nothing but resilient. “The fact that over 40% of first-time buyers spent over a year searching for a home is a strong indicator that we are seeing a generation determined to stay the course in pursuit of its goals,” Ratiu observes.
Compass Broker Associate and Millennial Carroll sums it up succinctly. “As we have been building careers some of us can finally afford to buy a home.”