bliblaHell Yeah
Just a constant reminder that gen home ownership by individuals is up. But who cares, let’s be doomers all the time. The economy certainly didn’t have any effect on anything important like an election or something.
Up compared to what, where, and by how much?
Millennials and on par with gen X. Also top third as a country.
Economist put together a nice article or you can dig through the omb data. economist.com/…/generation-z-is-unprecedentedly-r…
Your link is paywalled. But I’ve also heard this before and the main reason for this is that we’ve changed how inflation is measured, among other things. I don’t like replying with a half-hour video link but coldfusion’s “why is gen z so poor” Video gives a good overview, also using the article you linked as a source in the video.
Why is Gen Z so Poor?
Home ownership rates don’t need to take inflation into account. At the end of the day gen z, as individuals, own housing at roughly the same rate as gen x. The standard of living is higher and yes you can have this with inflation up and disposable income down people can still buy houses and do.
The US has weathered this global shift incredibly well, yet this sentiment displayed put Trump in office. It hurts me to see this disconnect and to see concepts like doom spending cheered.
Sure, but exclusively focusing on housing as an indicator for how rich a generation is gives a skewed perspective. Gen Z isn’t implicitly richer for owning a home, as they were able to use the low interest rates during covid which made mortgages less of a burden. They also have more opportunities to work from home, which allows them to buy cheaper houses in less desired areas.
However, just owning a home doesn’t mean you can actually get by.
It’s somewhat telling that despite all of those advantages, the average age at which people buy their first home is at a record high.
Right, so the "where" is the USA.
If we take https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z#/media/File:Generation_timeline.svg definition of the generations and table 12 from here, we can compare the values 16 years apart to see generations at equivalent ages. 2023 is the most recent data on that table, so millennials would be 27 to 42. We can't match that perfectly with the 5 year bins on the table, so I'll just average every bin that that generation covers a majority of. With that, we get:
2023 2007 1991 Gen Z 23.6% x x Millennials 47.9% 24.8% x Gen X 72.0% 53.4% 15.3% Boomers 78.5% 76.9% 49.1%We can compare generations at the same age by looking along the topleft-bottomright diagonal. This shows gen Z having a lower ownership rate than Millennials did 16 years ago. Millennials were doing better than gen X 16 years before that, but have now fallen behind both gen X and the boomers.
Sure enough, the entirety of the discussion of homeownership in the article you linked is:
American Zoomers’ home-ownership rates are higher than millennials’ at the same age (even if they are lower than previous generations’).
Not sure what data they're using since that doesn't tally with the above, but that's still second-worst, and the actual worst is the generation the post is actually talking about.
no way 47% of millennials own a home. i’m 34 and don’t even have a cent in the bank. I’m happy with renting though because home ownership has alot of responsibilities i don’t really want to because im super lazy.
BlursedTarotThe wording is highly biased and the article is poorly sourced. Here’s another link for the article referred to: archive.ph/wJJZv .
The Fed working papers ctrl-f “generation” -> : federalreserve.gov/…/has-intergenerational-progre… - the pdf paper includes the figures with non-biased language and here’s the conclusion:
Using data from 1963 through 2022, we evaluate whether younger generations are seeing slower income growth relative to the generations that came before. We confirm that there has been a slowdown in intergenerational progress, except for Millennials who saw their incomes grow slightly faster than Generation X but still more slowly than Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation. Intergenerational progress has remained positive for all generations. Positive growth has been maintained for Generation X and Millennials in spite of their stalled growth in hours worked. We investigate the role of two potential explanations for perceptions of worsening outcomes for Millennials despite their observed income growth relative to previous generations. First, we find that the higher household incomes of Millennials relative to Generation X, through their 20s, is a result of dependence on their parents rather than a rise in their own market incomes. By age 31, however, less than 10 percent of Millennials are still dependent on their parents and by then their own market incomes exceed that of previous generations. Second, we find that the rising cost of college offsets only a small portion of the income gains achieved by Millennials, especially when accounting for the growing generosity of financial aid. Our results focus on aggregate comparisons across generations, as opposed to direct comparisons between individuals and their own parents. Each type of comparison provides important information about absolute improvements in economic wellbeing across generations. Future research should continue to consider alternative measures of wellbeing for evaluating intergenerational progress, including consumption, wealth and social wellbeing (e.g., Fisher and Johnson 2022). Results on changes in wellbeing over time, including the intergenerational 26 progress made in rising incomes, should inform discussions about how best to promote wellbeing in the future.
Gratitude - I learned something despite the misleading trailhead.
Fuck gen z. Millennials have had it way worse and have been beaten to death by the economy since our late teens.
Graduated in 09. No mommy money here 🤷♂️.
When did you buy? 2017/2018/2019?
The last time I could even think of getting a house was back then, and the prices here went up at least four fold.
Most millennials I know can’t afford houses and never could. If they didn’t buy before covid they can’t buy until the market crashes again.
No, they did not increase 4x. Stop that, you sound silly.
2 years ago I purchased.
And while I understand your peer group may be struggling the group as a whole is still in largly able to afford homes over a 60% rate which is quite competitive in the Western world.
Don’t get me wrong, we should strive to improve housing, it’s just not the dystopia that the memes and shitty media would have you believe.
In vermont where I live, $150k houses are now nearly $600k.
The market in vermont is a bubble. Full of wealthy people from NYC and Boston pushing out locals.
The bubble WILL pop.
I very much doubt it. I doubt you’ll give me a zip code but there are incredibly few markets dealing with those increases. I won’t go to say it is impossible but it would be incredibly localized and an outlier on a national scale.
Vermont. Especially the commuting towns to the ski areas.
UnderpantsWeevilWhen all the expats and retires decide to move back to New York?
No no no. Those prices aren’t coming down any time soon. This isn’t 2008. There’s no flood of liar loans to default on. These are fixed prices going forward.
Considering our health system is collapsing, I’m hoping they die / move back for healthcare.
Or the stock market crashes and all of their play money vanishes.
No, they did not increase 4x.
Really depends on your market. New homes on my street in Houston are selling for twice what they went for before the pandemic. If you’re in a hotter market, on the East or West Coast, prices are higher.
And the jump from 3% interest to 6-7% interest following the pandemic raised monthly mortgage rates around another 1.5-2x (since taxes and interest are the lion’s share of the cost).
95% is the national average
Home prices are rapidly falling in my area after several years of out of control growth. The real problem is interest rates, which add hundreds of dollars per month to mortgage payments for the same home price. Fortunately interest rates are temporary and are starting to go down too.
Where are you? In vermont prices just go up and up. I don’t even pay attention to interest rates as the prices are far beyond what I’m capable of.
Austin, TX. Prices here more than doubled from 2019-2023, but have been falling for well over a year now. A ton of new homes and apartments are still hitting the market too, so I doubt we’ve hit the bottom.
They built housing and aren’t a retirement home for boomers who like to ski and golf.
I just looked on Zillow at house prices in Vermont and there are some fucking good deals, but not in the really desirable areas like where you probably want to live
They’re likely not good deals. They just look good to out of state money.
I’m seeing huge fixer uppers on 2+ acres for sub $250K well outside the main population centers
You need to be in vermont to understand how feasible these places are. The work required for any deals is usually major and getting the labor to do it is a long waiting list.
What a saf way to see things.
*realist
It’s sad being angry that other people supposedly don’t struggle as much as you do/did.
Why not simply rejoice that they don’t have it as hard?
Also it’s mainly mommy and daddy buying them houses.
How else can you afford a down payment? I’m a home owning millennial and I’ll happily admit my house down payment was covered in large part by what was left in my college fund.
And that was ten years ago, when housing was half the price it is today.
You’re extremely privileged. I didn’t have a college fund, I was coerced into taking out a mortgage on my worthless education.
My mom is on the brink of homelessness (she lost the house after dad died) and my dad is dead (thank you for profit american healthcare system). Despite being college educated, the most money I’ve ever consistently made per hour is $25. I’m just barely getting by, and jobs in my field pay less than what I currently make as a valet driver with tips (~35 an hour).
Unless I win the lottery or fall into exceptionally lucky circumstances, I will never have a house of my own. And all I want is a simple house with a mother in law apartment so my mom and I can share the house but live in separate quarters.
Being in vermont I’m surrounded by rich people and my job is a pointless job fellating the egos of the rich. They hate us and we hate them.
There are types of loans that require 0% down. It’s difficult, though, because monthly payments will be higher. Still a valid approach in some parts of the country. I managed to buy my first home this way with no help from my parents - and yes it was in the Midwest where no one wants to live.
No down payment on a cheap loan can be worth it in the long run, particularly if you can get under the principle quickly and refinance to a better rate.
But it carries bigger risks than a traditional fixed rate 30 year with a standard down
ZangooseHey, graduating Gen Z here, where are those mythical high-paying remote jobs? Hell, where’s somewhere that will actually look at my resume? People that got hired during COVID got laid off and now we’re competing with people who have 2-4 years of experience for a junior position, inflation is significantly higher and paying for college and rent didn’t exactly get easier. How can you look at the current situation and say we have it easy, just because you also had it rough?
I’m not saying there aren’t gen z who are suffering. You’re one of many and I’m sorry for that.
Millennials still, as a generation, have it objectively worse financially.
I protested during OWS and got pepper sprayed for it. I worked for the Bernie campaign just to see the DNC royally fuck their base in the ass no lube. The only peaceful action we have left is a general strike and everybody’s struggling so hard trying to fend for themselves that no one has it in them to organize a strike let alone all the fucking bootlickers who’d be against a unified labor action anyways.
We’re fucked. Violence appears to be the only answer, and from now it’s coming from the right.
AFallingAnvilThis is a super shitty comment you wrote here dude. Gen Z isn’t having life handed to them any more than we millennials did. If anything it’s worse for them because inequality isn’t getting any less striking.
I’m a millennial who has a remote, work from home job, go ahead and shit on my career. Gen Z are our friends and allies in the end, they understand pretty well what we went through and they’ll almost certainly go through worse because gestures vaguely at the state and trajectory of everything. The pain Olympics suck and someone’s suffering doesn’t invalidate yours.
We gotta use the empathy the boomers didn’t, we need to be better and not continue generational infighting or the only people who win are the rich.
Laughs in blue collar. When this country collapses, as it is currently doing, what are you gonna do with the skills from your fancy laptop job?
Fun fact: there are people who don’t live in the United States, we exist.
The whole world is gonna collapse not just the US. Gestures broadly at the climate
I feel like at that point you’re kinda moving the goalposts. Your question was a condescending one about what I’ll do “when this country collapses” not about climate change.
Climate change as a whole is another issue and not one that knowing how to use a hammer or fix a plumbing issue is going to magically spare you from. I’m doing what I can to prepare for the realities that might follow but as you point out, nothing and no one but the billionaires are safe (and probably not even them considering their staff are still real people and not robots).
I’m not having kids, I’m living small, but I’m also not living in fear of what I can’t control. Fuck man, we’re ex-redditors for crying out loud. We don’t I Am Legend a way out of this, we don’t magically survive because we went camping a lot. Get real and stop kidding yourself that your career will make one lick of difference unless it puts you in reach of billionaires and their private bunkers.
I know you mean well, but it’s not a good look.
The US is going to collapse because of the poly crisis. So is the rest of the world. Climate change, late stage capitalism, authoritarian right wing governments getting elected worldwide. Having real skills will soon becoming in handy.
Well it’s been a chat but I’m gonna go. Good luck with the doomsday prepping.
I demand my right to COMPLAIN! How insensitive of you to infringe upon my right to constant butthurt!
Gen Z is just coming of age, so it makes sense that their home ownership rate is rising.
but what about new home owners? certainly no one can afford them at this prices?
harkTurns out bloomers trying to gaslit people about how “actually the economy is great!” wasn’t an election winning strategy.