The New York Times, May 26, 2022, Gen Zers Are Buying Homes. Here’s Where They’re Looking.
Rising mortgage rates and steep home prices have been particularly challenging for first-time buyers, especially young adults earning their first paychecks. Many are looking outside expensive metro areas to find more affordable homes in midsize cities, new research shows.
According to a report from LendingTree, the online lending marketplace based in Charlotte, N.C., members of Generation Z — identified by the platform as people born between 1997 and 2012 — accounted for 10 percent of home buyers across America’s 50 largest metro areas in 2021.
The study’s results were dominated by inland cities, as more workers abandoned coastal areas. Louisville, Ky., (at 15.9 percent) climbed into the No. 2 spot from seventh place the previous year, and Oklahoma City (15.3 percent) fell one spot into third place. At the bottom were the notoriously expensive coastal cities of San Jose, Calif. (4.5 percent), New York (4.4 percent) and San Francisco (3.6 percent).
