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.
Pointing out how boomers and even gen x enjoy privileges that millennials and Z do not enjoy is not unfair.
True but unaffordable housing is not painful across society nor a single generation
No, but the Boomers, and GenX like me have had our shot during the good years. Millennials and Zs have been screwed before they even entered adulthood.
Some have sure, but the sector most at risk of homelessness are older women who for what ever reason are continually ignored.
You’re referring to a completely different topic that is being discussed here. We’re not talking about homelessness, but instead people that can make a rent payment but do not have the ability to buy a house.
Feel free to find a news article talking about homelessness and raise your point there.
And this thread started by Sir Kevin talks about moving away from generational conflict, but thanks for keeping us on the very narrow track champ
I can’t tell if you’re trolling or you don’t understand that not every thread is about every problem facing people. Is homelessness a problem? Absolutely. However, so is climate change and we’re not talking about that here either.
When you try to broaden the topic as far as you are there is no meaningful discussion about anything.
yeah but really, it’s the people with diabetes that are hurting
This is just whataboutism
Being born in 1977, I’m right at the cusp between Gen X and Millennial. Most of my friends my around my age and older own houses. Most of my younger friends do not. That seems like a pretty stark difference to me.