Millennials are not ready to buy homes in California. Andrew Woo, Manager of Growth Strategy at Apartment List, is the author of a new study on young home buyers. He says the commonly held view that millennials don’t want to buy is not supported by the research. Woo says the problem is coming up with enough cash for a down payment.
“Southern California is very expensive. In general, cities on the West Coast did very poorly for affordability. When we asked renters in the U.S. how much they’re saving and compare that to how much they need for a down payment. We use that data to estimate how long renters will need to save in order to make that 20 percent down payment on their home. California cities had some of the worst performance because the state is so expensive.”
Woo says affordable homes can be found in the South.
“Texas does pretty well. Cities like Atlanta and Charlotte do really well…The median starter home in Charlotte can be found for something like 75 to 80 thousand dollars. Whereas, in the San Francisco area you’re looking at something like 700-thousand dollars. So it’s a huge difference.”
Woo says the study found that most renters say they want to get into a home in five years, but the data says it’ll take them a decade or longer to achieve the goal of home ownership.
Woo was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning with Doug McIntyre and Terri-Rae Elmer.
