A report from Porch, an online service for home improvement projects, found that Miami has a lower millennial homeownership rate than the national average. Thirty-three percent of Miami millennials own homes, 6.5% points less than the national average millennial homeownership rate of 39.5%, Porch reported.
The millennial homeownership rates are lower than those of previous generations at the same age, the report found, for a variety of reasons, such as higher student loan debt, delayed age of marriage, lack of affordable housing, and different geographic preferences than older generations. The current national homeownership rate is 63.9%, while for millennials it is only 39.5%.
Porch analyzed data from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Zillow in order to rank U.S. metro areas according to millennial homeownership rates. In order to determine some of the underlying factors of the overall rate, they also examined local median home prices, average monthly mortgage payments, median earnings for full-time workers and the cost of living.
The report suggested several possible reasons for Miami’s lower-than-average homeownership rates. The cost of living was 10% higher than the national average, while median earnings were $35,000, compared to the national average of $40,000. Porch also found that the median home price was notably higher than the national average at $308,358, compared to $251,598, with the average mortgage payment at $1,094, compared to the national average of $893.