Under-25 Renters Are Decreasing

DALLAS—Axiometrics data show that the percentage of households that are renting has been increasing for most age groups since the housing bubble burst in 2007/2008. There is one significant exception, however, and renting among this age group has in fact trended steadily, although not dramatically, downward since the mid-2000s: the youngest adults among the millennial generation, those born in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

As Generation X gave way to Generation Y among heads of household under age 25, what was a leveling-off effect among renters in this age cohort turned into a gradual decline. “To be sure, part of the reason for this decline is attributable to the recession,” according to Dallas-based Axiometrics. “The lack of good jobs that have been created since the recession’s end has not allowed millennials the opportunity to create their own renter (or owner) households.” The number of young people still living at home, therefore excluding themselves from either single-family home ownership or multifamly rental, since the Great Recession has already been discussed at length, Axiometrics notes.