On The Market

Rich Boomers, Broke Millennials, and Ambitious Gen Z Fight for Housing

Oct 28, 2024

The podcast dives into the generational tug-of-war in the housing market. Baby Boomers hold a staggering amount of wealth, while Millennials and Gen Z grapple with debt and high living costs. Gen Z is eager to buy homes, but are they destined to be forever renters? Millennials, shaped by the 2008 crisis, have developed new financial strategies. Plus, the potential 'Silver Tsunami' looms, but will Boomers sell or stay put? Join the lively discussion on how these generations impact homeownership and the market's future!

42:18

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Quick takeaways

Generation Z shows a strong desire for homeownership, yet faces significant barriers like high costs and student debt affecting their ability to buy.

Baby boomers hold a majority of U.S. wealth and prefer aging in place, resulting in decreased housing inventory that challenges younger generations' affordability.

Deep dives

The Impact of Generational Size on the Housing Market

The 2008 housing crash is attributed to the relatively small size of Generation X, which limited their ability to support the housing market during a critical downturn. With Generation X representing only about 25% of the population, the argument suggests that a larger generational cohort could have helped stabilize housing demand. In contrast, the baby boomer generation, despite being just 20% of the population, controls a significant 51% of the wealth in the U.S. This disparity highlights the differing economic power across generations and suggests that generational size continues to play a crucial role in influencing the housing market dynamics.

Intro

2min

Generational Perspectives on Homeownership

9min

The Impact of Generations on Today's Housing Market

3min

Millennials and Gen X: Navigating Housing Challenges

13min

Embracing Generations: Gen Z's Nostalgia for Gen X

2min

Wealth Disparities Among Generations: Spotlight on Baby Boomers

4min

The Financial Journey of Baby Boomers: From Struggles to Wealth

1min

The Silver Tsunami: Boomers and Housing Dynamics

7min

Which generation is taking control of the housing market? With Baby Boomers sitting on an enormous amount of equity-based wealth, younger generations now have to do their part to get in the game, but who is faring best? Gen Z is hungry to get into homeownership, but with their high cost of living, credit card and student debt, and low affordability, will they be a forever-renter generation? What about Millennials, many of whom were financially shell-shocked after leaving college and entering the workforce during the Great Financial Crisis? And don’t worry, Gen X, we didn’t forget you (even though almost everyone else did).

Today, Dave and each of our experts have taken one generation to report on. We’ll talk about Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers—how much wealth they hold, their debts, whether or not they’re buying houses, and how they could affect the future housing market. Plus, we’ll touch on the financial mentality behind each generation and whether or not they have what it takes to become homeowners.

Finally, will the “Silver Tsunami” ever happen when Baby Boomers pass away and the flood of Boomer-owned houses hits the market? We’ll discuss the likelihood of this happening and whether or not the growing trend of “aging in place” could keep our housing inventory at rock bottom.

In This Episode We Cover

Why Gen Z is so poised to start buying real estate (but will they be able to?)

The Baby Boomers’ massive amount of equity wealth that may benefit the future generations

The largest generation of homebuyers that is still actively looking for places to live

Why this “forgotten generation” might be one of the wealthiest to come

The chance of a “Silver Tsunami” and what happens when Boomers pass down their housing wealth

And So Much More!

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