60% of Young Adults Will Use Pandemic Savings for a Down Payment

• June 30th 2021

by Nena Perry-Brown

The results of a recent Zillow survey are confirming what a report predicted earlier this year: that millennials and Gen Z are gearing up toward homeownership.

Sixty percent of millennials (aged 27-41) and Gen Zers (aged 18-26) who were able to save during the pandemic plan to use that money toward a down payment on a home, according to the survey results. This was the second most common response after using the money for everyday expenses.

Almost three million adults moved back in with their parents during the pandemic, and although employment dropped sharply for women and people of color, those who were fortunate to remain employed used the opportunity to save. In fact, 83% of the more than 1,200 young adults who participated in the survey reported that they had saved money in at least one spending category.

As far as where these young prospective homebuyers would like to live, about 44% indicated a preference for buying in a remote area, compared to 36% who indicated a preference for buying in a big city; the remaining 20% have no preference. Just over 60% consider it very or extremely important that they buy somewhere close to their job or that can offer a short work commute.

Previous Zillow research notes that the median age of first-time homebuyers was 34 in 2019, and that 46 million U.S. residents will turn 34 some time in the next decade, which would be the largest 10-year wave of aging into homebuying years ever recorded.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/59-of-adults-18-41-years-old-will-use-pandemic-savings-for-a-down-payment/18445.