Who is buying houses? You may be surprised by the answer.

Many of our potential homebuyers are now younger than my Millennial children – they are Gen Z, and they are getting the job done! And interestingly, many of them are single. So I did some research to see if this was a national change or just anecdotal.

Gen Z is made up of those who are now 18 to 30 years old. Although it still represents a sliver of homebuyers, it has grown from 3% the year before to 4% last year. They are financially savvy and seem to have learned from Millennials’ mistakes. If they go to college, they are wary of student debt because they have seen their older sisters and brothers take on massive student loan debt only to not be able to get a job that allows them to make the student loan payments and also save for a down payment. They live at home for a few years when first entering the workforce to save money. They understand the importance of good credit.

They also went through COVID during the years when they would have been dating and forming partnerships. So for many of them, that has been delayed. I had dinner on Saturday night with a group of Gen Z women who play in the flag football league. They are all either homeowners or in the early stages of the homebuying process. I asked them why they were buying a home before they had a partner, and the answer was unanimous. They wanted financial independence and to begin to build wealth, and did not want it to depend on someone else.

 If you know someone in that age group who may be considering buying their first home, tell them to contact us. We can look at the numbers and next steps. We also have a Home Buying 101 webinar on June 1 at 6pm. Please click here for more information or to RSVP.