Homeownership may be off the table or significantly delayed for a huge segment of the current rental market. According to a new study from Yardi's Rent Café, 43% of renters report that they will not be able to achieve homeownership for five years or longer due to the economic impact from the pandemic. 21% of respondents in the survey said that they could not buy a home for at least five years and 23% of respondents said they would never be able to purchase a home.

"The reason why most renters don't plan on becoming homeowners in the near future is financial worry," Florentina Sarac of Rent Café tells GlobeSt.com. "With home prices already high, they assume that the current pandemic won't have a positive effect on the housing market – on the contrary. Despite a desire to own a home, renters are shying away from doing so as they not only can't find a home priced within their budget, but they also have to take into consideration the unpredictability of current events."

When looking at individual demographics, boomers overwhelmingly said that they would not purchase a home again with 50% responding "never" and 8% responding "more than five years." On the other hand, 27% of millennials and 14% of  Gen-Z responded "never" to the question. "While more and more Boomers are shifting towards renting given the flexibility and affordability that comes with it, younger generations like millennials are finally starting to give homeownership a chance as they begin to settle down and start families," says Sarac. "Gen Z-ers, on the other hand, are still too young to have the necessary financial stability to become homeowners although they are enthusiastic about it. The influence, however, might come from their gen-X parents, who have been through several economic crisis resulting in many of them wanting and failing to become homeowners in 2008 and now we're witnessing a replay of that due to coronavirus. As a result, 25% of them are no longer hopeful about becoming homeowners."