NEWS COPY - WITH VIDEO & INFOGRAPHIC
By Zoya Gervis
Seven in ten non-home owning millennials feel it will be difficult for them to get a mortgage, according to new research.
A study examining millennial views on home buying found the dream of ownership is still a long way off for many – with close to one in ten (nine percent) saying they’ve already given up completely.
As many as 70 percent of those yet to own think that, based on their current financial circumstances, it’d be difficult for them to get approved for a home loan.
While nine percent have been rejected for a mortgage already, according to the study by Homes.com
When reflecting on their optimism in regards to buying a home, over half (52 percent) feel that their personal financial situation is what is ultimately blocking them from being able to make a massive purchase like buying a home.
Affording the down payment is predictably the biggest block for most respondents, yet one in five describes the burden of student loans and other debt as the biggest thing holding them back from property ownership.
And change may not be immediately around the corner, nearly half (48 percent) of the 1,000 millennials polled don’t feel like their situation will have changed for the better inside the next three years at least.
That might be why many are resorting to hoping for good fortune- a third of millennials who are yet to own a home think they’ll only do so through sheer luck. Results showed that 37 percent of those who don’t own a home think the only way they’ll have their own property is through inheritance, a lottery win or being given one.
Results also showed that more millennial men are simply okay with continuing to rent- with 16 percent of men feeling really okay with renting compared to only 9 percent of women feeling comfortable with the idea of renting indefinitely.
A spokesperson for Homes.com said: “With student loans and credit challenges, home ownership certainly appears more difficult for today’s millennials, but low rates and an improving economy also put a home purchase within reach of many, with millennials making up the largest group on homebuyers in 2017. Whether this trend will continue in 2018 is reliant on stabilizing home prices, at least in many of the markets where millennials are looking to live.”
However, property ownership is still very much the dream. In fact, 74 percent of millennials still very much associate home ownership with stability.
And many do believe that they’ll get there in the end- just not as soon as they would like - 68 percent of respondents say that they are likely to buy a home at some point in the future.
So, when the time comes, what do millennials want most from a potential new home? Results showed that millennials care a lot more about their neighbors and local environment when looking for a place to live - 34 percent felt the neighborhood is the most important factor to take into consideration when searching for a home.
The Homes.com spokesperson added:
“Neighborhood choice figures prominently in the millennials home search, a function of quality of schools, lifestyle activities, and proximity to work. There’s certainly some irony in the survey results however, as although the millennial mindset might appear somewhat different to many, their preference towards home buying still ties very much into the old adage of location, location, location.“
