Did Covid Change That?

Some indicators really do point to to where the market is heading … long term.

With housing affordability a major problem in the U.S., millennials who are trying to find their first entry into home ownership are stumbling, seeking exurban homes, living smaller or renting … or all of the above. Top 10 global asset manager Legal & General undertook a new study examining U.S. millennials who don’t yet own a home, their broad financial issues and whether/how Covid has affected their home purchasing plans.

For Millennials, Has COVID-19 Made the American Dream of Home Ownership More Myth than Reality? was recently released analyzing data across a wide range of factors, noting that the generation does not think as a monolith. To that end, survey responses were analyzed for differences between Junior, Mid-Age and Mature Millennials within the generation’s 15-year span.

The research answers questions such as:

·Where do millennials live, and did COVID-19 change that?

·Where do they want to live, and what impact has COVID-19 had?

·How do attitudes vary among different age groups/segments within the generation?

·How ready are they to move, and how big a factor is affordability?

Here are some of the findings: American millennials across the age span of 25 to 40 are finding it hard even to afford where they live, and nearly impossible to buy a home. A broad new report sponsored by Legal & General Group and released today, U.S. Millennials and Home Ownership — A Distant Dream for Most, finds that in the wake of COVID-19, more and more young people are having to make difficult decisions about where to live. The pandemic forced many to go back home to their parents or hometown in order to be able to buy their own place, while remaining in a larger metropolitan area or even in their college town has moved further out of their reach.

The data-rich study, which will be released in several focused segments, talked to U.S. millennials not as a homogeneous generation, but as three distinct age groups with highly individualized, often different housing needs. Released today, Part 1 of the study looks particularly at the effects of the pandemic on home-buying sentiment and decisions across urban, suburban, and less populated geographies.

·Millennials broadly view COVID-19 as the latest obstacle in a “raw deal” on affordable housing.

·62% of U.S. millennials say big cities are hard or extremely hard to afford.

·70% of U.S. millennials say large metropolitan areas including suburbs are hard or extremely hard to afford.

·Nearly half of millennials are unhappy with their current location.

·37% would move to a smaller town due to affordability.

·Cost of renting is so high that home ownership has been put on the back burner.

So, what are you planning to sell … and how?