Can I make it? › Housing
Can I keep a roof over my head?
Renting, buying, and who's actually getting in the door.
A home used to be the reliable path to security. Now rent eats half a paycheck, buying takes 5.5 years of income, and the first rung of the ladder keeps moving up while investors bid against families for the cheapest houses.
Is rent eating my paycheck?
1 in 2
Renters are cost-burdened
Half of renter households now pay more than 30% of income on rent, a record.
Can young people still own?
39%
Under-35 homeownership
Down from ~44% in 2004, a generation locked out.
How old to buy a first home?
40
Median first-time buyer age, a record
Up from the late 20s a generation ago, the oldest on record.
Are investors taking the houses?
~1 in 4
Of low-priced homes bought by investors
Wall Street and corporate landlords compete with families for the cheapest homes.
How many years of income to buy?
5.5×
Median home now costs about 5.5 years of median income, up from ~3× in the 1990s.
Are my kids worse off than I was?
Boomers' wealth at age 35100%
Millennials' wealth at age 35~60%
At the same age, millennials hold roughly 40% less wealth than boomers did. Homeownership is the biggest reason.
Is owning still the path to wealth?
$415k
Median home price: owning still builds wealth, but the down payment is now out of reach for most renters.
What the Numbers Are Saying
- ›Rent is the quiet crisis: half of renters are now cost-burdened, a record.
- ›Buying has slipped out of reach: 5.5 years of income for a median home, double the 1990s.
- ›First-time buyers are older than ever (40), and under-35 ownership keeps falling.
- ›Investors now buy ~1 in 4 of the cheapest homes; families bid against Wall Street.
- ›The result is a generation with far less wealth at the same age.
The ladder's still there. The first rung keeps moving up.
Figures real; tap any source to open it.