Upper-Income, Educated, Married with Children, and Still Not Buying: Declining Homeownership among “Prime” First-Time Home Buying Candidates

Homeownership among young adults fell sharply during the housing bust, accelerating a long-term trend that saw the homeownership rate of householders under age 35 decline by nearly 11 percentage points between 1980 and 2012. This is compared with a drop in the overall homeownership rate of less than 1 percentage point during the same period.

In our most recent edition of Housing Insights, Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group discusses how social, demographic, and economic shifts have contributed to young adults’ declining homeownership.  Our research specifically examines the homeownership rate of "prime" first-time home buying candidates, which suggests that other factors, such as the rolling back of loose mortgage lending standards from the housing boom, the recent rash of foreclosures, and uncertainty regarding future incomes and house prices also might be suppressing homeownership among young adults.

Upper-Income, Educated, Married with Children, and Still Not Buying: Declining Homeownership among “Prime” First-Time Home Buying Candidates (PDF)