Boomers Admit Younger People Have It Harder

A majority of Baby Boomers—the generation born between 1946 and 1964—believe that young people in the U.S. now have a harder time buying a home than they did, according to an exclusive poll conducted by Redfield Wilton & Strategies on behalf of Newsweek.

This sentiment is shared by a majority of Americans, with 69 percent of those polled saying that it is harder for young people to buy a home today than it was for their parents' generation "decades ago." These numbers go up the older the generation.

Some 73 percent of Boomers think that it was easier for them to buy a home than for the younger generations, against 70 percent of Gen Xers—those born between 1965 and 1980— 68 percent of Millennials—between 1981 and 1996—and 58 percent of Gen Zers—between 1997 and 2012.

The survey was conducted on February 18 and 19 among a sample population of 1,500 eligible voters in the U.S.

The results show that Boomers, who are often pitted against Millennials, have a lot of empathy for the problems of younger people, many of whom come of what is considered the traditional home-buying age during adverse economic situations in the country.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), in 2022 the age of a typical first-time homebuyer went up to 36 from 33 in 2021. In 1981, the median age was 29 years old.

The cost of homes in the U.S. has skyrocketed in the past few decades. According to data from the U.S. Census, the median home value was $2,938 in 1940 (about $30,000 when adjusted to dollar value in 2000) . Forty years later, in 1980, it was $47,200 (93,400 in 2000 dollars). In 2000 it had reached $119,600. The median sale price of a home in the U.S. is currently $402,523, according to Redfin, up 5.2 percent year-on-year.

Sara Coers, a lecturer in real estate at Indiana University, previously told Newsweek that Millennials—now the largest generation in the U.S.—were "the victims of freak circumstances." According to Coers, "we overbuilt prior to the last recession and the capital markets, the lenders, the banks thought we didn't really want to build new homes after that. They weren't paying attention to the future of household formation. And we dramatically undersupplied the country."

Millennials are regardless still buying their first homes, contributing to keeping demand and prices up despite high mortgage rates.

As Boomers pass on their homes and their wealth to their children, experts estimate Millennials are to hold five times as much wealth as they do today by 2030. They're estimated to inherit over $68 trillion from boomers.

Half of respondents to the survey said they expected to leave an inheritance to their children, while 24 percent said they don't expect to do so. Only 38 percent of Gen Xers thought they'd leave an inheritance to their children, against 49 percent of Boomers, 59 percent of Millennials and 65 percent of Gen Zers.

A majority of 67 percent of respondents said they did not expect to receive, or have not already received, an inheritance from their parents.