Few milestones in life mean as much to the American Dream as owning a home. And millennials have encountered the kind of trouble totally befitting their generation, which largely graduated into the teeth of the disastrous post-2008 job market. Just as they entered peak homebuying and household formation age, housing affordability is at 40-year lows, and mortgage rates are near 40-year highs.
The anxiety this generation feels about the prospect of never owning their own home affects their entire perception of their finances and the economy, says Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.
“If they feel like they’re locked out of owning a home it colors their perceptions about everything else going on in their financial lives,” Zandi says.
Millennials have long been dogged by a brutal housing market. They faced not one, but two, cataclysmic economic events—the Great Financial Crisis in 2008 and the pandemic in 2020. Both of which left them reeling financially and struggling to afford a home. The Great Recession decimated the real estate market as the economy nearly collapsed under the weight of tenuous mortgage backed securities. While the pandemic brought with it a remote work boom that caused millions of citydwellers to flee to the suburbs, sending housing prices soaring.
Edmonton, AB.
265k, 2 bed, 1.5 bath, unfinished basement, no garage, definitely a bot of a fixer (has a lot of landlord specials left behind we had to put work into fixing up)
Took a year and a half to save up the down payment + nest egg at ~$700/month set aside by cutting out a lot of expenses and living sorta frugal. No mcdonalds, no buying fun stuff, meal prepping, canceling subscriptions, etc etc.
We were at the time making a total of 70k combined before taxes. We could’ve prolly saved even more but we didn’t want to go full peasant mode, lol.
I also had a large chunk of crypto from many years prior (~12k value at the time we signed the mortgage) I could’ve dipped into if needed, but we actually never needed to sell out that for the house and I wanted to keep holding it.
Good thing I didn’t give in and sell, because a year later that 12k turned into 22k and I used that to substantially improve the home and build my makerspace in the basement, as well as build my garden in the back.
The house is definitely got a lot of… character… but I’m very happy with it and I don’t need or want a bigger home. It’s small with a big yard which means less space to clean, and all the fixing stuff keeps me busy.
I could do with less electrical issues though, prior owners didn’t seem to give a shit about proper wiring work and I’ve had to basically re-install every switch and plug in the house. Also went on a fun adventure pulling ethernet through the attic to got modern wired gigabit internet delivered to key points in the house so everything didn’t have to use wifi. Added security cameras, a PoE switch and server rack in the basement, and got air conditioning installed recently too.
House feels like a home now, and that’s what matters.