Gen Z is defiantly ‘giving up’ on ever owning a home and is spending more than saving, working less, and making risky investments, study shows

The housing market only continues to look more bleak for younger generations—and it shows. The average age for a first-time homebuyer recently jumped to 40, signaling the housing market is starved for affordability.

And younger generations are so disappointed and frustrated by the state of the housing market they are spending more of their earnings than they are saving, they’re working less, and they’re making risky investments, according to a recently published paper by Northwestern University and University of Chicago researchers. 

In other words, younger generations are “giving up.” That’s according to Northwestern’s Seung Hyeong Lee and Chicago’s Younggeun Yoo, who also cited a 2024 Harris Poll survey about the state of real estate that showed 42% of Americans and 46% of Gen Z respondents agreed with this statement: “No matter how hard I work, I will never be able to afford a home I really love.”

While households typically adjust consumption to stay on track with long-term goals like buying a home, younger people are crossing a “threshold at which they begin to give up on [buying a home] entirely.”

The idea that this generation is “giving up” is also echoed in an analysis by Read Entire Article