The average consumer’s life is filled with financial milestones, and buying a home is a major one. But when do most people reach the milestone of homeownership? Researchers at Comet Financial Intelligence, a student loan refinancing resource, surveyed 1,200 Americans on how long it took them to complete their financial “rites of passage” with homeownership and other savings hurdles. Among their findings:
- The millennial respondents surveyed say they expect to purchase their first home three years before paying off their student loans. As such, millennials may be prioritizing paying down their student loans before buying a home, and that may explain some of their delay into homeownership compared to previous generations, the survey says.
- The average age at which people buy their first home is 29.1 years old. Regardless of which generation they belong to, most Americans will be homeowners by age 35.
- Three-quarters of millennials surveyed do not yet own homes, and they will be 34.4 years old, on average, by the time they take out their first mortgages.
When consumers do become homeowners, they tend to feel a happy sentiment toward homeownership. Female homeowners surveyed showed greater feelings of excitement about a place to call their own. However, men surveyed expressed pride in their homes more often, the survey found. Recent studies have shown single women are buying homes at a faster pace than single men.
Source: “The Typical American Financial Life,” Comet (February 2018)
