And they are opting to rent single family homes
The millennial generation is changing the shape of the housing market according to a new study.
Although there is still sizeable demand for homeownership, the millennial homeownership rate is down almost 20% from a decade ago as more of the generation choose – or are forced - to rent or stay with parents.
The ValuePenguin.com study found a gradual drop in the number of households that owned a home and were headed by someone under age 35 between 2009 to 2016; from 12% to 9.8%.
Millennial householders accounted for over 12% of all U.S. homeowners in 2009 but fell year-after-year to a low of 9.8% by 2016.
The study found that things started to change in 2017, with more millennials buying homes while the number of renters declined. But even then, 67% of millennial households were renters.
More renters of all ages
During the study period of 2009 to 2017, the population of American households that pay rent increased 15% to almost 43 million. In the same period, the number of homeowners increased by just 0.7% to 75.8 million.
That meant that while there were more than two homeowner households for every renter in 2009, that ratio fell to 1.76 by 2017.
The study also found an increase in the number of renters – including families - choosing single family homes rather than buy them.
