According to the Associated Press, young Americans are “short of cash and unsettled in their careers,” causing them to wait longer than ever to buy their first homes.
In the early 1970s, Americans between the ages of 18 to 34 rented for 2.6 years before buying their first home. Today, Americans of the same age rent for six years, says data from Zillow.
Though delayed marriage and difficulty in landing stable careers have been noted as causes to delayed homeownership, many experts say the trend that “cuts to the heart of the financial challenges facing millennials [is that] renters are struggling to save for down payments,” the Associated Press reports.