A report from Seattle-based real estate brokerage Redfin indicates that younger Americans are not catching up to the homeownership trends of prior generations. 

Just over one-quarter (26.1%) of Gen Zers owned their home in 2024, essentially flat from 2023 (26.3%) and 2022 (26.2%), according to Redfin. Before that, the Gen Z homeownership rate had increased each year since Gen Zers started aging into potential homeownership in 2017 (except 2022, when it stayed flat). But only 33% of 27-year-olds own their home today, compared to 40% of baby boomers when they were 27. 

The story is similar for millennials: 54.9% of millennials owned their home last year, essentially unchanged from 2023, when it was 54.8%. Prior to 2024, the millennial homeownership rate had increased each year since 2012. 

Older Americans saw their homeownership rates increase slightly in 2024: 72.9% of Gen Xers owned their home in 2024, up from 72% in 2023. And 79.6% of baby boomers owned their home, up from 78.8%. Those small increases are fairly standard for older generations. 

“Homeownership is still a symbol of success and stability for many Americans, but the nation’s culture is shifting with the economic times,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. 

Among the causes for the stall in homeownership among younger Americans:  

• Interest rates that have more than doubled in percentage points since 2022 
• A tight housing supply driven by older Americans staying in their homes longer 
• Rental costs are essentially flat compared to the growing cost of buying a home 
• Economic uncertainty connected to student loan debt, lowered job security, high cost of living and, more recently, tariffs.