Few milestones in life mean as much to the American Dream as owning a home. And millennials have encountered the kind of trouble totally befitting their generation, which largely graduated into the teeth of the disastrous post-2008 job market. Just as they entered peak homebuying and household formation age, housing affordability is at 40-year lows, and mortgage rates are near 40-year highs.
The anxiety this generation feels about the prospect of never owning their own home affects their entire perception of their finances and the economy, says Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.
“If they feel like they’re locked out of owning a home it colors their perceptions about everything else going on in their financial lives,” Zandi says.
Millennials have long been dogged by a brutal housing market. They faced not one, but two, cataclysmic economic events—the Great Financial Crisis in 2008 and the pandemic in 2020. Both of which left them reeling financially and struggling to afford a home. The Great Recession decimated the real estate market as the economy nearly collapsed under the weight of tenuous mortgage backed securities. While the pandemic brought with it a remote work boom that caused millions of citydwellers to flee to the suburbs, sending housing prices soaring.
Not unless they were willing to leave the city, any actual decent City you ain’t going to find Jack shit for $200,000 as far as housing goes or even just raw land
I mean yes, that is a lot of money but it was a mixture of living out of my van for 5 years. Working 50+ hours a week and some of it is mortgaged atm. It’s not like im loaded here lol.
The entire point of the original message was it’s possible, just not something the majority of people are willing to do and I don’t blame them. The build up to it was not fun and it’s not fun having to drive almost 3 hours One Direction to see friends and such
But I decided it was worth it to finally own my housing, I don’t regret the choice
Don’t get me wrong dude I’m happy for you and in no way trying to take away from your success or sacrifice. Sounds like you put in a lot of effort and deserve the payoff.