Page 13 - sacgovhomes spring 2017

HUD and the
P A G E 1 2
Millennial

By Morgen Earle

"50 PERCENT OF HOME BUYERS ARE

UNDER

THE AGE OF 36"- ZILLOW

“Millennials are shaping the market more than anyone realized. In fact, half of all

buyers are under 36 and half of sellers are under 41,” said Zillow Chief Marketing
Officer Jeremy Wacksman, referring to results from a survey of more than 13,000

homeowners, sellers, buyers and renters that are part of the new Zillow Group

Consumer Housing Trends Report.

Young adults are also driving more diversity among HUD, enables borrowers with less-than-perfect credit
homeowners. Only 66 percent of millennial to take out a home loan and to purchase with a
homeowners are white, compared with 77 percent of smaller down payment. as low as 4%, It also
all homeowners. Among millennial homeowners, 17 accommodates millennials who have student loan
percent are Latino or Hispanic, 10 percent are debt, which affects their debt-to-income ratio.
African-American and 7 percent are Asian or Pacific
Islander. “The nation just came out of a significant housing
crisis,” HUD Secretary Julian Castro said. “At FHA, the
Another surprise from the new report is that a large concern has been to make sure that we learn the
number of millennial homeowners — 47 percent — lessons of the past so that we don’t slide back to
live in the suburbs. where we were before, but at the same time ensure
that we offer a great opportunity for responsible folks
Millennials are moving to suburbs that are tailor- to be able to own a home.”
made to suit their tastes and needs — for example,
the neighborhood of Stapleton, which was built on HUD's big push to support Millennial home buyers is
the site of Denver’s old airport. But it wasn’t clear summed up in the following quote by Castro, who
until now how many of them are putting down roots said “Generation after generation, the primary
outside of cities. vehicle to create wealth in our country has been
through homeownership, and today we have the
But how... Massive student loans. Inconsistent lowest homeownership rate that we’ve had in 48
income. Rising rent. A daunting down payment. years,”
Millennials face several challenges to achieving the
American dream of owning their own home.
Source: Zillow, gwtoday.gwu.edu