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On The Market

222: Boomers Hoard Houses, Millennials Struggle to Buy, But Gen Z Gets Ahead w/Redfin’s Chen Zhao

On The Market

BiggerPockets

News, Investing, Business, Education

4.8820 Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Millennials can’t afford homes, but somehow, their younger siblings, Gen Z, can. Even with over a decade more work experience than Gen Z, Millennials still feel priced out of the housing market. So how can the younger generation, only twenty-seven years at the oldest, already be on track to beat Millennials in the homebuying race, all while mortgage rates and prices are high, inventory is low, and inflation is eating away at Americans’ disposable income? We’ve got Redfin’s Chen Zhao back on the show to explain. Today, we’re trying to answer one question: Who is buying all the houses? With younger generations struggling to buy and more Baby Boomers aging in place, real estate investors want to know their competition and who they may be selling their homes to. In this episode, Chen breaks down the data behind age trends in homebuying, plus shares why Millennials fell behind past generations. But that’s not all. We’re getting into the changing landscape of the “buy vs. rent” debate and whether more renters now will mean fewer homebuyers in the future. Plus, with an aging Baby Boomer generation, will we finally see the “Silver Tsunami” of housing inventory hit the market as boomers “age in place,” especially with their large share of family-sized houses? Could our housing supply problems reverse if a sizable amount of inventory hits the market? We’re answering it all coming up! In This Episode We Cover Why Millennials can’t afford houses, and the reason so many still don’t own homes How Gen Z is already on track to get ahead of Millennials even with today’s economic turbulence Buying vs. renting a home and the “mismatch” between what renters want and what landlords supply A potential reversal of our massive housing shortage and when this could happen Whether or not the “Silver Tsunami” will hit the housing market as boomers get older How the increase of “aging in place” will affect home inventory as Gen Z/Millennials try to buy And So Much More! Links from the Show Find an Agent Find a Lender BiggerPockets Forums BiggerPockets Agent BiggerPockets Bootcamps Join BiggerPockets for FREE On The Market Join the Future of Real Estate Investing with Fundrise Connect with Other Investors in the “On The Market” Forums Subscribe to The “On The Market” YouTube Channel Dave's BiggerPockets Profile Dave's Instagram Property Manager Finder On the Market 151 - The Math Behind Mortgage Rates and Why They’re Staying Put Real Estate Podcast 867 - Zillow and Redfin Top Economists Give Their 2024 Housing Market Predictions Why Are Millennials So Behind in Homeownership?   Connect with Chen: Chen’s LinkedIn Redfin News Redfin’s “From Our Economists” Redfin Report: Gen Zers and Young Millennials Took Out 40% of U.S. Mortgages in 2023 Jump to topic: (00:00) Intro (01:03) Are Millennials Priced Out? (04:29) Millennials’ Lost Decade (07:46) Gen Z is Getting Ahead (11:08) Is Homebuying Overrated?  (16:56) The Housing Shortage Could Reverse  (19:58) Boomers Ageing in Place  (25:20) Young People are STILL Buying!  Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and  https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/on-the-market-222 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

In this challenging and confusing housing market, who is actually buying all the homes?

0:05.7

As a flipper or real estate investor, what buyers are you trying to attract?

0:10.3

Are Gen Z and millennials priced out of the game?

0:13.3

We're going to explore some generational home buying patterns on today's show.

0:22.9

Hey everyone and welcome to On the Market.

0:25.3

I'm your host, Dave Meyer.

0:27.1

And on today's episode, we'll bring you back a fan favorite guest.

0:31.1

It's Chen Zhao from the economics team at Redfin.

0:34.9

And with her, we're going to discuss Gen Z and millennial home buying patterns,

0:39.4

how they're funding their down payments and getting into this market and some rental trends

0:44.6

you're definitely going to want to pay attention to because the question of whether it's

0:48.7

cheaper to rent or buy doesn't just impact homebuyers. It also impacts landlords and real estate investors. So with that,

0:57.0

let's bring on chat.

1:03.4

Chen, welcome back to the show. Thanks for being here again.

1:07.1

Thanks for having me.

1:08.5

So my first question surrounds this idea or this narrative online or in social media that Gen Z and millennials are priced out of the housing market currently.

1:20.6

How would you react to that narrative?

1:23.6

Well, you know, I would say housing is very unaffordable right now. So I'm very sympathetic to that narrative. I mean, it is definitely the case right now that, you know, home prices are really high. And then not only that, but also mortgage rates are really high too, right? So for anyone who's trying to get into the housing market for the first time, it is a tough

1:46.6

situation. That being said, I think the big picture right now is that for younger millennials and

1:55.6

Gen Z homebuyers, a lot of them are still having success, even though it is a tough market.

2:03.2

So millennials, you know, when we look at the data, are a little bit behind their parents

2:08.1

and their grandparents, you know, when they were at the same age.

...

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