Across U.S., millennials struggle to become homeowners

When we surveyed young adults on Long Island about their experiences here, a few worrying factors became clear.

• Student loans have stopped or delayed 55 percent of respondents (young adult LI residents) from homeownership or having children
• 52 percent of respondents find it difficult to pay their monthly bills
• 55 percent of respondents plan to buy a home in the next 5 years
• 36 percent dislike the housing costs on Long Island

LendEDU recently released a survey of millennials on the topic of homeownership.

Their survey differs from ours a bit, and you can read more about their survey methodology and results here, but here are some key findings that popped out to us.

Desire to be a homeowner

89 percent of millennials who are not yet a homeowner wish to be one, and more than half (65 percent) anticipate it will take them one to five years to become a homeowner.

Major life commitments

42 percent of millennials have put off marriage, having children or having pets until they have become homeowners.

Financial pains

Nearly one quarter report that low income is preventing them from being a homeowner.

21 percent have debt concerns. Of that, half of them are held back by student debt.

17 percent have poor credit stopping their homeownership aspiration.

How do we compare?

While the surveys are not directly comparable, Long Island young adults are reporting that student loans are impacting them more. A large portion of the LendEDU survey respondents anticpate it will take them one to five years to become homeowners, and that tracks with our study (55 percent plan to buy a home in the next five years).