Home Ownership is Alive and Well With Teens

A recent CNBC.com article reveals that the American dream of owning a home is still alive and well with teenagers. “The study, conducted for real estate service Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, found that 97 percent of those ages 13-17 believe they will own a home in the future. Compared with the 40 percent of millennials who said in an earlier Better Homes study that they expected to buy a home in the near term, these new figures prove that the younger generation may be more attached to the notion of home ownership.” However, this information can be interoperated in a number of differ ways. First, teenagers may not realize the massive amounts of student debt and low wage growth that face them down the road. Many of the millennials surveyed probably have seen or are going to see the previously mentioned problems as well as other problems like high rent and the difficulties involving loan approval. I think millennials surveyed are just trying to be realistic with their expectations of owning a home in the near term, but looking forward long-term, I do not think that millennials are completely divorced with the idea of home ownership. The article goes on to say that half of millennials may soon be shopping for homes and with the recovering economy this number could even increase.

            One might wonder why is there such a strong connection for teens to own their own home and many people don’t have much of an idea. The article says that some may have the connection of having to move from their childhood home because of the great recession. This makes sense to me because home ownership was and still is important to similar generations who were children during the great depression. The mindset stemming from the recent recession for theses teenager may be based on the idea that having a physical investment like a house cannot be taken from them after it is payed off. Going through these hard times and having to leave a place they enjoy could clearly have effects like the ones previously described.

            Only time will tell if millennials begin to become more prominent home owners and begin to embrace what many people view as the American dream. Also, it will be interesting in time to see if todays teenagers, generation z, will truly become the home owners they are surveyed to be.

Check the full article out at CNBC.com