Dive Brief:

• More than half of individuals looking to rent a home considered buying one instead, according to real-estate listing website Zillow based on feedback from 13,000 renters, homeowners, buyers and sellers along with U.S. Census Bureau data. 

• Among the respondents who bought a home in the last year, 66% who were members of the millennial generation said they considered renting, compared to 54% of Gen-Xers and 32% of baby boomers in the group who said the same.

• Those looking to rent spent an average of 10.4 weeks looking for housing compared to the 17 weeks spent by the average buyer in pursuit of a home.

Dive Insight:

The national homeownership rate is hovering near a 51-year low as first-time homebuyers, who trend younger, consider student debt and rising rents as a barrier to saving enough money to afford a down payment. This group is looking to cities, where job growth is typically strong, and are increasingly focusing on more affordable markets such as Nashville, TN, and Raleigh, NC — in turn driving up housing costs there as they relocate in greater numbers.

Meanwhile, the U.S. homeownership rate is near a 51-year low, thanks to tight inventory conditions that have increased competition for housing and pushed prices up. The recent boom in multifamily construction is beginning to cool down, which is tightening apartment inventory for renters and buyers while single-family is heating back up. 

Younger buyers are returning to the market. Existing-home sales rose 3.2% from August to September with first-time buyers accounting for more than one-third of sales for the period, the most in more than four years. Economists told Construction Dive in October that first-time buyers currently account for 33% of home sales, up form 29% during the recession but still behind their pre-recession 40% share.