Why are Millennials Renting and Not Buying Homes?
The hype over millennials doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon and there are good reasons for that. Being the largest living and working generation in the US, millennials are criticized and talked about in regards to any choice they make and any set of rules they decide to follow. To make my own contribution to this rapid-fire talk, I made a decision to write about what I know especially well: the trend of millennials renting over buying homes.
As a result, here is a short article meant to explain why millennials are ditching homeownership and becoming the generation of renters. But before you learn why things are moving towards the epoch of renting, make sure you know that homeownership has been on the decline and there has been continuous changes of rent trends in San Antonio for the last few years and millennials are responsible for the biggest part of the trend.
And it turns out that there are plenty of reasons why millennials believe that renting is a better housing option. But to save you time and effort, I whittled the long list of reasons down to a short one. Read on to learn why millennials are not dreaming of buying a house with a backyard and what they are dreaming of instead.
Millennials Choose Freedom Over Stability.
If I could only use one sentence to describe millennials, I’d say they are always on the look-out for opportunities. And this state of mind shapes their lifestyle in general and housing habits in particular. Living in a constant fear of missing out, millennials don’t want to plant their feet in any particular city. Striking roots means losing mobility, and losing mobility equals missing on opportunities.
They don’t want to be glued to one place, as they firmly believe that the next big opportunity might be waiting for them in another city or on the other side of the continent at any moment. It’s true that having a stable job and owning a home in cozy suburbs might be enough for someone to be happy, but the majority of millennials will never agree on that. They choose the risky thing over the sure thing, and this priority is what defines them.
They Want a Trendy Neighborhood.
It is not to say that millennials are too demanding or spoiled, but they’re always geared towards getting the best thing available. And it pretty much explains why they’d rather rent a small apartment in Manhattan instead of buying a spacious villa in the Bronx. Their choices are oftentimes defined by what’s trendy, convenient, and cost-effective. And if you think about it for a moment, you’ll see it is a nice philosophy to live by.
You can either dream of buying a perfect apartment in the city’s downtown if you get rich one day or you can sign a lease and move in this perfect apartment tomorrow. And if statistics don’t lie, 71.6 percent of millennials choose the latter. In nearly all cases, renting is the only way young Americans can afford living in a trendy neighborhood, so they take what they can and manage to be happy about it.
They Value Time and Convenience, not Homeownership.
Let’s face it: owning a home (especially a big one), comes with a list of obligations and responsibilities. Every now and then you need to cut grass, fix broken windows, deal with a leaking roof, and so on and so forth. And the cold truth is that millennials don’t want to spend money and effort on solving problems like that. Home maintenance might be important, but it doesn’t top the list of first-priority things in millennials’ lives.
As homeowners, millennials would have to deal with plenty of issues. As renters, however, they only have to pay rent online once per month and make maintenance requests when something needs to be fixed. Sounds like an easy life to live, and it not only sounds this way.
Why are millennials renting over buying?
In the world of millennials, renting is the new black. And while it is hardly possible to name only one particular reason behind the trend of millennials renting over buying, it’s relatively easy to name a few. First and foremost, renting provides the freedom and mobility millennials are so concerned about. Secondly, it’s a chance to live in a neighborhood that would otherwise be out of reach. And lastly, it’s a proven and legitimate way to escape from the home maintenance routine.
If you think about it, you’ll see a lot of wisdom behind the choice of millennials renting instead of buying homes. The world is changing and so should we. Maybe it’s true that keeping things stable is no longer the only good option to choose, and maybe millennials have got it exceptionally right about how to get the most out of living in today’s world.
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