83 Percent of Generation Z Plans to Purchase a Home Within 5 Years

• September 10th 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

A new survey from Property Shark reveals that the adults in the generation born in and after 1995 are much more optimistic about the housing market than the generation that preceded them. While 87 percent of millennials are hoping to buy in the next five years, Gen Z is right on their heels. Despite anticipated or actual student loan debt burdens, 83 percent of Gen Z adults reported plans to buy a home in the next five years.

Although the oldest members of Gen Z are 23 years old right now, 100,000 members of the generation are already homeowners, however they aren't plucking down enormous down payments. Nearly half of this generation spent less than $10,000 on a down payment. Additionally, 93 percent of Gen Z homeowners saved for less than five years to make a down payment.

Based on the numbers, Gen Z is more optimistic than millennials about the amount they need to save for a down payment, anticipating a $37,000 down payment rather than $41,000 for millenials. This is particularly interesting because Gen Z hopes to be able to afford a 2,081 square-foot home, 200 square feet larger than millennials' size goals; after location, size is the second most-important factor for Generation Z.

Additional noteworthy data points are:

• Generation Z is less concerned about energy efficiency than millennials or Generation X.
• Generation Z would rather have a home gym than a home office.
• In contrast to millennials' affinity for city life, 60 percent of Generation Z prefers suburbia.
• Forty percent of Gen Z members who live with their parents do so to save up for homeownership, while 32 percent do so because they cannot afford rent; for millennials, those percentages are 34 and 44, respectively.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/83-percent-of-generation-z-plans-to-purchase-within-5-years/14419.