A survey made by CoreLogic, a data and analytics company, identified the top 10 counties where the Millennials are buying homes, led by Utah. But the numbers of young people purchasing properties is on a downtrend. More of people born between 1980 and 2000 prefer to rent because of financial constraints or live with their parents.
For those looking for a home of their own, they search for units with prices that are lower than the average in counties where there are higher job opportunities with relatively good pay. Given those criteria, they tend to search for houses in the middle of the country and avoid the two coasts where property prices keep on going up.
Top 10 counties
Utah County, the top choice of millennials, has homes with a median price of $229,000, according to Zillow. The figure is within the national average of house prices compiled by the U.S. Census. Among the 342 biggest counties in the United States, employment growth in Utah County went up by 6.7 percent in 2015, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Rounding up the top 10 list are Denver in Colorado, Kent in Michigan, Weber in Utah, Polk in Iowa, Weld in Colorado, Linn in Iowa, Fayette in Kentucky, Clay in Missouri, Saint Louis City also in Missouri. CoreLogic based its analysis on more than 70 metrics linked with mortgage purchases by millennials.
The metrics include loan application data, number of foreclosures, mortgage interest rates, and education level of millennials, Fortune reported.
Figuring out the millennials
The report from CoreLogic helps society understand better the millennials known for their different attitude and outlook. Employers are among those who want a better understanding of these young workers that large companies are paying intergenerational consultants up to $20,000 an hour to advise employers how to deal with the millennials.
Another good source of data to provide a better understanding of millennials is a new survey from Bankrate.com. The poll found that 23 percent of adult Americans see cash – whether in savings accounts or CDs, is the best form of long-term investments. The survey had 38 percent of respondents below 30 years old who admitted preferring to keep money in cash, Time reported.
Leaving the city
Based on observation of young people, many people have reached the conclusion that millennials love the city life. It is because they prefer nightlife and subways. However, new evidence indicates they now prefer to leave the cities because of the Great Recession.
Dowell Myers, an urban planning professor at USC, cited a CityLab report than when millennials reach 25 years old, it is the age when they begin returning to a suburban living pattern. Myers said if planners do not act now, the presence of millennials in cities would “evaporate through our fingers” when their preference to live in cities fade as they begin having families and having more established careers. He said that their presence in the cities must not be mistaken for preference to live in cities.
