Survey Finds Many Renters Worry About Homeownership

About half of Americans aged between 25 and 55 fear they will never become homeowners, a new survey from LendingTree finds. Fifty-two percent of Millennials and 55% of Gen X renters are concerned about homeownership, and an economic analyst from LendingTree says that many in the midst of their careers likely believe they will never own a home if they do not already. And it does not help that home prices continue going up while incomes lag behind, the economic analyst told CNBC.

The U.S. middle class depends on home equity as a source of wealth more so than wealthy families, who tend to own more financial assets like stocks and bonds, according to the Pew Research Center.

Americans held $34 trillion in real estate assets in the first quarter of 2021, or about 23% of total household assets, according to Federal Reserve data. Households also had $11 trillion in total home mortgage liabilities.

Lending Tree’s online survey polled 2,050 U.S. consumers from Aug. 2 to 6. The firm hasn’t conducted this survey annually, making it difficult to compare homeownership sentiment in past years.

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