By KIMBERLEY HAAS
As the number of homes purchased by people with different last names increases, it is being reported that Millennials are choosing to buy single-family houses with their friends.
In an article written by Zinhle Essamuah for NBC News, three women talked about their decision to buy a house together. Amanda Scheider, 30, told Essamuah that it’s like having a permanent sleepover.
Scheider lives with Kathy Keel, 30, and Stephanie Vandergrift, 28, in Gallatin, Tennessee. They signed for a 30-year, $315,000 mortgage in May of 2020 after renting a house together.
Essamuah used analytics from Attom Data Solutions which shows the number of homes purchased by people with different last names increased by nearly 772% between 2010 and 2020.
This trend has also been covered by The Wall Street Journal’s Alex Janin, who wrote this concept of friends buying homes together has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Pew Research Center, as Millennials age, they are approaching societal norms in different ways than previous generations.
Millennials, who have now surpassed Baby Boomers as the largest living generation, are slower to establish their own households and get married.
They also have the lowest birth rates compared to other generations.
Millennial men are much more likely to live with their parents (18%) than their female peers (10%). Only 9% of millennials live alone.
In 2022, millennials are expected to keep the market hot.
During a webinar designed to address what mortgage professionals should expect as the calendar year changes, CEO and Co-Founder of HouseCanary Jeremy Sicklick said the sheer number of Millennials out there in the market will continue to drive demand for the next decade.
A chief economist for Realtor.com agrees.
“We expect a whirlwind 2022 for the housing market,” said Danielle Hale in an article for Forbes. “Home sales are expected to increase another 6.6% and home prices to rise another 2.9% on top of 2021 highs… Demand from [Millennial] households will keep the market competitive and fast-paced despite a small uptick in housing inventory as builders continue to ramp up production, increasing single-family starts by 5% in 2022.”