With the economy on more solid footing, many are ready to strike out and buy their own homes. Nielsen expects Millennials to spend about $1.6 trillion on purchasing homes and an additional $600 billion on rent in the next five years. Of those Millennials surveyed, 80 percent said they either plan to buy a home or they already own one. This maturing market spells good news for the real estate industry, both in terms of a general desire among Millennials to own a home and the generation’s size. The Millennial generation comprises about 77 million Americans, or 24 percent of the U.S. population. It is roughly the same size as the Baby Boomer generation and seems to be on the verge of stepping into home ownership.

Down payments are still a struggle for many Millennials. The NAR’s Generational Trends report revealed that about 97 percent of Millennial homebuyers in 2013 took on at least some debt to purchase their home. A typical down payment for a Millennial homebuyer was just 5 percent, compared to 10 percent for Gen Xers and 23 percent for the oldest homebuyers. Twenty percent of Millennials said they had trouble saving for the down payment.

Twelve percent of all homebuyers included in the survey said that they had to put off buying a home because of their debt loads. Millennials were no exception, with 56 percent citing student loan debt as the most significant financial roadblock they needed to overcome, followed by automobile loans for 38 percent, credit card debt for 30 percent, Child care expenses for 11 percent and health care costs for 8 percent.

About 42 percent of Millennial homebuyers said that it was harder to apply and get approved for a mortgage than they expected. Most – about 96 percent – opted for fixed-rate mortgages. Conventional loans made up the majority of mortgages for Millennials, at 46 percent, followed by Federal Housing Administration loans at 38 percent and Veterans Administration loans at 7 percent.

Helping Millennials understand the options available to them is key to getting them into the market, Elias believes.

“The mortgage industry continues to evolve making available loans, federal and conventional to strong and capable Millennials,” Elias said. “There are tax break incentives like the MCC (mortgage credit certificate), an annual tax break of $2,000 to public funds for down payment on the county level and the 5 percent down payment convention loans. There so many are options it’s almost exciting.”