Pessimistic about market volatility and resistant to being “tied down,” many millennials still aren’t quite ready to purchase a home, according to the latest ValueInsured Housing Confidence Index [1], released Thursday.
Seventy-six percent of millennials who do not yet own a home say they would like to purchase a home, according to ValueInsured.
While 70 percent of millennials say the American Dream is “alive and well,” according to ValueInsured, 83 percent describe a new American Dream of “owning a home on my own terms while staying mobile, agile and financially secure.”
More than four out of five millennials do not plan to live in their current home for more than five years.
While mobility is top-of-mind for millennials, market volatility is too. About 60 percent of millennials expect a price bubble and burst in the next two years, compared to 47 percent of Americans overall.
Prospective first-time millennial homebuyers reported concern regarding another housing crisis, with just a quarter of them saying they are confident a housing crisis akin to that of 2008 will not reoccur in their lifetimes.
Overall, housing confidence rose just 0.2 points from June through September, and it is up 1.9 percent since March, according to ValueInsured’s index. Housing confidence stands at 68.9 on a 100-point scale.
Rising home prices and an unsettling political climate are holding confidence back, according to Joe Melendez, CEO of ValueInsured.
“Home prices rose over the summer, putting them out of reach for many renters who also saw their rents rising,” said Melendez. “Another factor suppressing housing confidence is the unsettling presidential contest and uncertain future it entails. Combine those factors with the hangover of the 2008 housing crisis, and many prospective buyers really need a confidence boost.”
ValueInsured compiles its Housing Confidence Index each quarter based on the results of the Modern Homebuyer Survey.