{"id":14077,"date":"2015-05-05T15:35:43","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=14077"},"modified":"2015-05-05T15:41:24","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:41:24","slug":"millennials-want-houses-despite-falling-homeownership-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/millennials-want-houses-despite-falling-homeownership-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennials want houses despite falling homeownership rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yimian Wu<\/p>\n

Despite the falling U.S homeownership rate and the rise of the sharing economy, owning a home is still part of the American dream for most Millennails, the 20- and 30- somethings.<\/p>\n

A random sampling of college students in downtown Chicago shows a majority plan to purchase a home in the future. The primary reasons are family formation and \u201ca place to call mine\u201d.<\/p>\n

The U.S.\u00a0seasonally adjusted homeownership rate dropped to 63.8 percent in the first quarter, the lowest since 1989, according to the housing vacancies and homeownership report released by the Census Bureau last week.<\/p>\n

[field name=”homeownership rate”]<\/p>\n

Homeownership rates fell in the first quarter of 2015 to the lowest since 1989. (U.S. Census Bureau, Yimian Wu\/Medill)<\/div>\n

The report also showed that homeownership by people under 35 fell to 34.6 percent\u00a0from 35.3 percent last year, the sharpest yearly decrease among\u00a0all age groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Millennials (those 35 and under) graduated college and entered the workforce during the worst of the recession,” said Adam DeSanctis, economic issues media manager at the National Association of Realtors, in an\u00a0email. “As a result, underemployment, stagnant wages and repaying student loan debt in the past few years have delayed their path to homeownership,\u201d<\/p>\n