You Ask, We Answer: How Are Parents Influencing Their Adult Children’s Decision to Buy Homes?
As today’s housing market continues to thrive, a trend is emerging among some Millenials and their parents: For some adult children, their parents are the bridge between being able to afford a home–and not. Let’s look at how parents are influencing their adult children’s decision to buy a home, and how this effects the Connecticut housing market overall.
Millennials and the housing market
According to Bloomberg.com, “Homeownership among millennials trails behind other generations. Even at age 40, 60% of millennials have bought a home, compared with 64% of Gen Xers and 68% of Baby Boomers at that same age, according to an Apartment List analysis of census data.”
To help this generation catch up to the dream of homeownership their parents were able to achieve, Bloomberg.com notes, “Parents are increasingly helping their adult children purchase homes, whether that means co-signing a mortgage, giving money for a down payment or buying the property outright, according to real estate agents across the country.” The reasons for this are myriad.
What’s causing parents to buy homes for their Millennial children?
Families with the means to do so have long passed along wealth to their children, often leaving behind inheritances that were then used by children to help purchase homes. Now, some parents are using that inheritance to help with the down payment or buying a house outright for cash to ensure they’re alive to see their children live in and enjoy their Connecticut home.
With rental prices spiking–particularly in more metropolitan areas–a mortgage payment on a Connecticut home seems to many like a much more sound investment. But with interest rates climbing and housing prices remaining strong, and with many Millenials carrying student debt while their wages have remained stagnant, pulling together a sizable sum for a downpayment or even qualifying for a mortgage can be a challenge for many adult children.
Antonio Liguori, President and Broker of Calcagni Real Estate, recently put this trend in perspective when speaking to CT Builder Magazine. “Homeownership is still a great investment long term,” he said. “Even in an environment where home prices and interest rates are rising, with no possible end in sight, purchasing a home, especially for a Millennial, is still a top priority over renting. And with personal wealth at higher levels (up until this calendar year), some parents are opting to liquidate assets to help a child purchase a home in today’s market rather than wait until the end of life transferring of assets via a will. They elect to see their children ‘enjoy’ their inheritance while they can!”
Part of the spike in parents–in particular, extremely wealthy parents– helping their children purchase homes may be due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. According to Bloomberg.com, this piece of legislation “doubled the amount that Americans can pass on to heirs tax-free, to about $12 million for individuals and $24 million for couples in 2022. That provision will sunset at the end of 2025, when the exemption is scheduled to be cut in half.”
How does this all affect the Connecticut housing market?
Liquori explained in his interview with CT Builder Magazine that the influx of Millenial buyers–regardless of how they’re financing their Connecticut homes–will only continue to add to the high demand for housing throughout the state.
“This group is 25-40 years old and is now the largest demographic group in the U.S. (surpassing the ‘Boomers’). They make good wages, have real buying power, and are no longer avoiding commitment. If they are not renting, they already own a home and are beginning to ‘upsize.’ Connecticut continues to be an excellent choice for relocation for the ‘work from home’ opportunities it presents, and this group is at
the peak age to buy, which only adds to the demand for homes – new or resale.”
