Yet another asset crash would annihilate whatever assets millennials have happened to acquire. This would leave the millennial generation largely asset free as they enter their 40s except for inheritance.
A majority of "normal" buyers in the past couple of years have been millennials. Sure there are cash buyers and corporate buyers but outside of that, this has been younger buyers stretching their budgets while interest rates are low. A crash in housing prices while the jobs market cools could easily end in disaster for them.
Millennials have so far been a bi-modal generation in terms of economic outcomes. Effectively going through college debt birth lottery, and a career lottery.
If your a millennial who managed to get through the lottery and have assets, then you are likely heavy in housing and stocks. If assets crash, these individuals will lose out - but ultimately be at the same point as their peers who never accumulated assets.
It will add yet another economic catastrophe to the list, as people generally form businesses in their 40s and 50s we likely wont see much in the way of SMB formation.
It would likely trigger larger economic shifts that could cause job loss, tank the market, etc. Hard to buy homes if you have no income or have your investments obliterated before you can sell.
A housing crash only matters if sell your house during the crash. Prices will eventually come back up. And your fixed rate mortgage gets cheaper every year due to inflation. Certainly some people will have not choice but to sell. But a millennial should be able to ride out a crash - don't read the news and don't stress.
Not sure about the US, but in Canada (where the median house is 2x the US), home ownership rates among under 40's is a couple percent lower than in 1989 (mostly due to longer period of education before entering the workforce).
That doesn't stop social media from flagging a "millennial crisis".
I'm not in the US, but can only think of one person in my rough age and social circle that is renting (and that was because he split with a partner and she bought his share of their house). Fairly middle class cohort, mix of public and private schooling. Average house price here is about $1m, though most would have bought earlier and cheaper.
Anyone younger and buying now would be up against it. I think housing affordability is one of the biggest issues we have.
I'm guessing that is ___location dependent, though it has changed recently, many people I've known (admittedly college educated or further, corporate tech) have been homeowners since their early-mid 20s. (millenial)
I guess it is this site but I always see SF Bay Area mentioned, everyone knows it is an outlier. Guess there's a lot of other cities in similar positions.
