A recent survey shows the COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on significant financial decisions for many Americans, namely buying a home.
According to the survey conducted by RENTCafe.com, 43% of the respondents said the pandemic had forced them to reconsider their housing plans. "Economic uncertainty," and "loss of income" were cited as the top two drivers in changing the thinking of the respondent renters.
The survey, which broke the responses out by generation, found that the largest group that was reconsidering buying a home were older millennials. Nearly 50% of the respondents in that group said they had reconsidered, an important finding, given that group would be a prime market for buying a home.
Perhaps even more strikingly—and sad when you consider the view of home ownership to be a cornerstone of the American dream (and significant driver and factor in the economy)—is that nearly a quarter of the respondents to the survey, or 23%, said they now will never buy a home.
Ouch.
Those on the older end of the age spectrum—baby boomers and GenX —had the higher percentage of respondents who said they would never buy a home.
Fifty percent of baby boomer and 25% of GenXers said they would never buy a home. As for millennials—younger and older—between 13-14% said they would never buy a home.
What's interesting is that, according to the survey, at the start of 2020, 11% of the renter respondents were looking to buy a home in 2020. That was pretty consistent across all generations of respondents with the exception of Generation Z renter respondents. Only 5% of them said they were looking to buy a home in 2020.
GenXers were the most optimistic about buying a home going into 2020, with 15% of the renter respondents saying they were going to make the jump to owning a home.
Given the number of respondents reconsidering buying a home, and those who have given up on the idea, it really shows the profound impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had not only on people's financial decisions, but their long-term economic outlook.
But the results weren't all downbeat. The largest percentage of respondents—56%—said they still planned to buy a home in the next five years, suggesting the long-term optimism of renters hasn't been completely crushed.
The RENTCafe.com survey was conducted at the end of May 2020 and asked 7,000 renters about their housing plans before and after the pandemic hit.
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Hank Grezlak
Hank Grezlak is the editor-in-chief for ALM's legal theme desks and regional publications and oversees Law.com, and has been covering courts and law firms since 1993. He has won numerous awards for his journalism, including several for investigative reporting, columns, and enterprise reporting. In 2016 he was awarded the G.D. Crain, Jr. Award for Distinguished Editorial Career.
