Younger consumers still prefer homeownership

All the pieces are in place to help consumers considering buying a home in Utah – property values and interest rates are low and there is an abundance of homes available for consumers to choose from. Still, recovery of the local housing market has been somewhat slow.

Various studies have recently decried homeownership as a facet of the American Dream that will no longer be as important to the next generation of consumers, who have come of age during the housing crisis and may prefer renting to owning properties. Some observers have argued that a Gallup poll from last month reinforces this point, as that study found that homeownership had fallen to a record low of 62 percent.

But, these results only portray homeownership as it currently is, without considering whether consumers in the future will prefer to own their properties. One of the most recent studies to consider the attitudes of Utah first-time homebuyers and their counterparts across the country comes from TD Bank.

In that study, 85 percent of younger consumers – between the ages of 18 and 34 – said that they plan to own a home in the future, while nearly 60 percent said that they considered homeownership to be an integral part of the American Dream. This information is important for the future of homeownership because a large majority of homeowners purchase their first property during that time of their lives.

"There's no denying buying a home is a pivotal point in a person's life," TD Bank executive vice president Michael Copley said in a press release. "Our survey tells us that people are looking to buy homes, and attitudes towards homeownership have continued to remain positive over the years."

If you are a consumer with your sights set on homeownership, a discussion with a local real estate expert and Utah mortgage company should be able to enhance your chances of finding a property at an affordable price.

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