Home ownership among young buyers

Home ownership among young buyers

A recent study by Yolt (a money management app), has found that only 2 in 5 millennials see owning a house as a financial goal. Despite this, the majority of this age group feel positively about their future goals.

For previous generations, being a home owner has been one of the most important things to achieve but this is no longer a simple, achievable goal for many. Yolt’s research found that although millennials have a reputation for being reckless with their money, they actually sacrifice their standard of living in order to achieve future objectives and save a larger percentage of monthly income (25%) than any other age group. This may be largely due to a quarter of millennials still living with their parents.

The priorities of this generation may also differ slightly to previous ones with half of the millennials in the survey suggesting that supporting current/future family was their primary financial objective as opposed to owning a home.

Although so far, the research is suggesting myth busting evidence about millennials actually being responsible savers, 18-35 year olds largely rely on friends and family for financial support; 1 in 5 actually need their parents’ help to cover their living costs. This is because parents are often relied on to supply all or part of a deposit for a property in order to get onto the housing ladder.

When asked what encourage them to save more and show an active interest in savings, almost half of those asked said that a better return on savings would do this and that tools that allowed them to follow the performance and manage their money would also help. Education on savings options currently available in the market was also something that was requested highly among millennials.

High costs of home ownership are also deterring millennials from purchasing a property with people staying in rented accommodation for around 4-5 years longer than they initially planned. The freedom of renting and being able to move wherever, whenever, is very popular among younger people with many of these people being unsure as to where they would like to settle down.