Baby boomers continue to dominate the housing market in terms of the total amount of homes owned. Indeed, the total stands at $18 trillion, compared to just about $5 trillion for millennials as of the first quarter of 2023, according to a Redfin report released Friday. That’s despite the fact that millennials now “make up the biggest piece of the homebuying pie,” according to Redfin, having purchased about 60% of homes bought with mortgages during the past several years.
Baby boomers have the highest worth of U.S. homes, according to the Redfin report. Millennials, however, did surpass the Silent Generation—people born between the Great Depression and World War II who are now about 77-to-95 years old—in terms of home value. The value of homes owned by the Silent Generation fell 11.4% to $4.7 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, the Redfin report shows, while millennials rose 2.9% year-over-year.
Millennials surpassing the Silent Generation in terms of home value, however, isn’t that surprising considering that millennials are now a larger generation. The Silent Generation has lost home value as more of them die or move into retirement homes, the Redfin report explains. This is the second quarter in a row that millennials have surpassed the Silent Generation in terms of total U.S. home value, according to Redfin. By comparison, Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1980) own roughly $13.4 trillion.
“Millennials have never fully been able to participate in the housing market as their prior generations have, but the large millennial generation has been—and continues to be—ready to build their families,” Julia Wasserman, chief operations officer of equity investment platform Home Construction Collective, tells Fortune. “Millennials, however, have come of age over the course of troubling economic times.”
Although Millennials haven’t yet caught up to baby boomers and Gen X, they have gained home value because they’re in their prime homebuying age. Indeed, millennials range in age from late 20s to early 40s, and the median homebuying age is 33, says Brandon Snow, executive director of mortgage strategy at Ally Home.
“Over 50% of millennials own a home now and they have been the largest buyer of homes over the past few years while simultaneously being able to take advantage of the pandemic era rise in home prices,” he says.
But it’s still exceedingly difficult for some millennials to break into the housing market due to low inventory levels and costly starter home values.
“Right now, there is nothing to buy. This massive shortfall is especially severe in the critical entry-level price-range, keeping large swaths of people from entering the market entirely,” Wasserman explains. “Starter homes accounted for 35% of all housing completions in 1970 and now make up less than 10%. Those who got into the housing market when interest rates were close to 0% feel locked in to their choice unless forced to sell, which further limits the inventory of existing homes.”
Another challenge for millennials in the housing market has been building home equity. Millennials who bought during the pandemic have been forced to tap into home equity for more liquidity as the country has experienced an inflationary period. Indeed, Millennial home equity dropped 18.2% year-over-year, a bigger decline than any other generation, according to Redfin. Experts agree that this is likely due to millennials using home equity lines of credit (HELOC) to pay off other debt such as credit card bills and student loans.
