Welcome Home Millennials
The landscape of the housing market is as unpredictable as a millennial’s next social post. One unexpected turn was the emergence of a millennial home-buying frenzy. What caused this up-tick in younger generation home-buying? Let’s take a look at the pieces:
Transition to Work From Home:
As everyone masked-up and left their office desks behind, they transitioned to working fully remote. This opened up the opportunity for young couples to be able to work from anywhere, unbound by a specific office location or commute. This was enough for some millennials to take the plunge and relocate to a new place and new home (that happened to have a WFH office.) As the spread of Covid-19 has slowed, many workplaces are sticking with the option for their employees to work remotely as it supports the company’s bottom line with being able to scale back on items such as rent, space, office supplies, while giving millennials and other generations alike the freedom to try new homes and spaces.
Forbearance on Loans, Stimulus Checks:
It is no secret that school loans have burdened the millennial generation. According to Credible, on average at least 20% of their monthly income goes straight to school loan repayment. This has slowed the pace of first-time homebuying upon graduation. To ease the financial difficulties of this group, during the Pandemic, there were federal programs that automatically put school loan debt repayment in forbearance. For those who had hours cut back or lost their job, this freed up some resources to put towards more crucial things such as housing and food. For some, this widened the opportunity to shift and save money to then look for a house. This carries the same for stimulus checks – they allowed people to catch up on bills, be able to take care of their families and give people a chance to plan for the future.