Wisconsin REALTORS® Association: Millennials Make the First Move

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  1. Insights Home
  2. What REALTORS® Should Know
  3. By the Numbers
  4. Millennials: Urban and Suburban

Millennials most likely to locate to urban and suburban areas

Millennials Move To Suburban Areas

By the numbers

In 2015, the Millennial generation became the largest numerical segment of America's workforce. In 2016, they will become the largest percentage of the workforce. Although Millennials have been slow to enter the housing market, the National Association of REALTORS® indicates that 91 percent of Millennials report that they want to get married and own a home. As they do so — and many have already bought homes — they will become the largest generation of homebuyers in American history. In the first edition of the Insights report, professor Steve Malpezzi of the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business provides information and insights about your future customers.

Migration signatures for large urban core counties, 1980-2010

Millennials are most likely to locate in urban and suburban areas. They are also likely to form households later in life and to have entered the job market during difficult economic times. All of these factors have impacted their income levels, their workforce participation rates and their entry into the housing market. Migration Signatures For Urban Areas Source: Carsey Institute.

Total student loan balances by age group

Annual new student borrowing peaked in 2010 because of a combination of lower enrollments and lower propensity to take a loan if enrolled. Furthermore, most borrowers have a current balance below $25,000. Recent annual default rates are slightly over 3 percent; and combining recent and past defaults, about 11 percent of loans outstanding are in default and another 6 percent are delinquent. Forty-six percent are current on the loan but not yet repaying principal, and 37 percent are current and actively paying down. 
 
The New York Fed research did not have data on the current income of borrowers but did show that defaults are concentrated among borrowers living in low-income zip codes. The immediate and direct effect of student loans on the ability to purchase a home appears to be concentrated among the small minority of college students who borrow large sums and fail to graduate.
 

Millennial annual earnings

If earnings of young college grads have yet to fully recover, 25- to 35-year-old workers with some college but without a four-year degree took the biggest hit and are still hurting: $640 in 2007, only back to $560 today. High school and below started low and stayed low: $527 in 2007, and $500 in 2015. Data on unemployment rates show qualitatively similar patterns. The unemployment rate for 25- to 34-year-old holders of a bachelor's degree or higher is currently 2.5 percent. The corresponding rate for 25- to 34-year-olds with an associate degree is 3.3 percent; with some college but no degree is 6.6 percent; for those with high school only is 7.9 percent; and less than a high school diploma, 11.2 percent. 
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