Can you imagine saving for 38 years to buy your first home? It seems absurd, yet at the rate many Millennials are saving in Boulder County, that’s how long it would take to put a 20% down payment on a home in the area, according to an article by Shay Castle for The Denver Post.
Affordability is the most difficult obstacle to overcome, according to the article. Problems such as student loans and high home prices compared to incomes are hindering Millennials.
From the article:
Assuming zero debt, a 10 percent down payment of $49,500 and a sub-4 percent interest rate (a situation very few Millennials find themselves in), a household would need an income of at least $72,000 to make the nearly $3,000 a month mortgage, insurance and tax payments and still fall under the 45 percent debt-to-income ratio most lenders use as their top-end requirement.
Woo's data suggests Millennials do want to buy, and soon. Seventy-eight percent of Boulder County respondents want to purchase within the next few years but affordability is their biggest obstacle: 60 percent say cost is keeping them from home ownership.
Despite this, however, real estate agents say that nearly half of those shopping for homes in Boulder County are Millennials, according to the article.
And Boulder County isn’t the only place struggling. During the first quarter of 2016, housing inventory in Texas hit an all-time low, a problem that now impedes the entire state.
On the other hand, some markets may still hold hope for Millennials. Realtor.com said it expects these five housing markets to be some of the most sought-after for millennial homebuyers in 2016 due to their large numbers of millennials, strong employment growth and relative affordability.
