Owning a home is on the rise

When you’ve worked in real estate, you’ll see a few recurring topics that pop up here and there. One of them is about the shifting marketing. Millennials are not the typical buyers and prefer to rent for extended periods of time. However, recent data indicates that this might be changing.

Over the past few years, we’ve been tracking to see just how millennials entering the firsttime buyer market will change things. When you look at their debt upon graduating college, you can start to see why they might not want to incur too much more debt. With 69 percent of graduating college students each holding an average of $35,185 upon graduation, it’s not big wonder that they aren’t jumping right into the buying market. When mortgage companies factor in the debt to income ratio, outstanding loans, etc., even those wanting to buy a home would be hard pressed to get qualified.

Now, debt isn’t the only thing that is keeping millennials out of the market. Recently, a colleague of mine wrote an article about how millennials don’t want to be tied down. They prefer to cut the strings that limit their freedom. This is a phenomenon seen across markets. With television, we’ve seen the cord cutters who’ve abandoned typical cable in favor of Netflix, HBO Now, Prime Video, and others. The same principle applies here, except in a much greater fashion. Being tied to a cable bill and being tied to a mortgage are very different things.

This is all good information to look at. Without understanding the people who make up the market, you’ll be hard pressed to find out how to navigate it. But, this is an incomplete picture. With the economy on the up and up, we’re seeing millennials

make the jump (but not the millennials you have in your head). Generation Y, also known as millennials, is starting to make the leap into homebuying.

Between graduating with debt and the fear of commitment, we’re surprised when we see homeownership grow and renting take a slight hit. As millennials reach their mid-30s, they’ve started

moving out of their rentals and into homes of their own. The overall, homeownership market has increased a full percentage point to land at 34.3 percent.

This is good news for those working in the buying and selling of real estate. It answers the question, “Will millennials start to buy?”

The answer is yes, but

as time marches on the point at which they buy keeps rising higher and higher. While millennials around 35-yearsold started to purchase homes, those under 34-years-old dropped in their owning percentages.

The moral of this story is that while the market is shifting up in age, it’s still a good market. Millennials are starting to buy homes

rather than renting. As this new generation continues to move up into the mid-30s we’ll likely see more and more take the leap into homeownership. This age of this leap is likely to continue rising, but the important part for the market is that the leap happens.

Wayne Megill is the principal of The Wayne

Megill Real Estate Team of Keller Williams Brandywine Valley and the President of Megill Homes, Inc. For buyer or seller representation, or for more perspective on the local and national real estate market, please email Wayne@ waynemegillteam.com and visit The Wayne Megill Team site at http://www. pahomesandrealestate.com

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