Aging home inventory creating a tipping point

Source: Forbes

America’s housing market is graying. Baby boomers, holding the lion’s share of homeownership and real estate wealth, are sitting atop an aging housing inventory that could define the future of millennial homeownership. Baby boomers own 37 percent of U.S. homes while making up just over 20 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They also control 57 percent of the nation’s vacation homes and 58 percent of rental properties that generate income. 

Nearly half (45 percent) of millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) do not own a home. And for many, inheriting property may be the only feasible pathway to homeownership. Economists expect a “Great Wealth Transfer” soon, which will hand off multiple trillions of dollars of assets from boomers to their heirs, which will allow millennials to become homeowners, either through inheritance or the financial flexibility to afford a down payment.