Why do young Americans expect to be able to afford a full-on house as their first purchase in life?

38 comments

1. What young Americans are you talking to that think that??

2. Basically, in previous generations that was actually possible. America is so huge and spread out, and the economy was so strong, that young people buying homes was common. As such, there’s a bit of a negative stigma towards apartments, because it’s seen as “you can’t afford a house like everyone else can.”

3. Young people who work full time just want to be able to house themselves at this point. It’s not about buying a single-family detached house, although that’s what previous generations were able to accomplish on modest salaries.

4. We bought our first house in 1982 at 26. We saved for almost 5 years after college and put 10,000 down on a 70,000 dollar house. It started at 85,000 and we talked them down as interest rates were 10.5%. That house is worth 300,000 today.

5. I’m not aware of any real life person who expects this.

6. A starter home is usually a small home you purchase after you rent rooms or apartments during college/early to mid-20s. Traditionally.

   If its really important to somebody to own a home, they can still make it happen. Home ownership rates are very high across the country. People have this weird perception that everyone used to buy a house when they were 22 or 23. That didn’t happen then and is still rare today.

7. People buy flats in densely populated areas like NYC and SF where single family structures are unavailable.

8. Because our parents did.

9. I wonder if part of it is differences in housing construction. America is less densely populated than most European countries so it made a bit more sense to build single family homes, and I know Poland wasn’t a Soviet state but I believe they had a big focus on constructing apartment housing during the 80’s and 90’s, we didn’t have anything like that here and refer to them as “commie blocks” since they were mainly built in communist countries.

10. Starter home, defined: a relatively small, economical house or condominium that meets the requirements of young people buying their first home. (Oxford Languages)

    Condominiums in the US are usually apartments in a complex, where each unit is owned separately by a family, indovidual, or management company (to rent out for long-term or short-term living). Young people do buy apartments, townhouses, etc. as their home (even if it’s not a “starter home”).

    You are getting a really grandiose view of what “young Americans” want and do for their starter homes.

11. That’s what all of our parents did so it’s a cultural expectation.

    Nowadays though, buying apartments is more common, but even then prices are still unreasonably high. It’s actually not uncommon for a nice apartment in a big city to be just as much or more expensive than an entire house in the suburbs.

    The other aspect of this is schools for raising children. The US schooling system is decentralized and regulated and funded on a local level. This means that public school quality varies a lot by school district, and often the best schools are actually the ones in the suburbs where more families live in single homes. City schools often have a bad reputation for being overcrowded and underfunded relative to their size.

    People want to be able to raise their kids where the schools are the best, and they feel dismayed that they’re priced out of the better suburban school districts because they can’t afford houses in those areas.

12. I bought my house at 24 or 25 for $125k. I absolutely did not want to live in an apartment again after college. Rented a house with a friend for a little over 2 years until he forgot to pay a few utility bills. That’s when I decided to buy my own house.

13. Because that’s what our parents did.

14. Actually *buying* apartments is not really all that common here outside of some of the largest cities (like NYC). Apartments are primarily associated with renting and as such aren’t typically even seen as an option when considering a purchase. A condo, maybe, but it’s typically just single-family houses that people tend to buy when buying property like that. At least in my experience and observations anyway.

15. About [65% of Americans](https://www.statista.com/statistics/184902/homeownership-rate-in-the-us-since-2003) live in a single family house that they own. Only about 1% of Americans live in a different kind of home (condo, townhouse) that they own. This hasn’t changed much over the last 30 years.

16. Because when Boomers and Gen X were young, you *could* actually buy a house as a fairly young adult without inheritance or help from parents.

17. It’s culture driven. There’s always been a strong American drive to be independent and have our own piece of land.

    A lot of Americans want their own house, backyard, flower bed, and driveway. We heavily value raising a family in an independent house environment. Many of us don’t want to share a wall with a neighbor.

    Back in the day, that used to be a pretty affordable thing to do. Nowadays it’s very difficult to afford unless you live in the midwest where housing is a bit cheaper. Simply put, American culture values space and independence for many people, but not all. Some people love apartments, and that’s totally fine.

18. Home ownership for young people in rural areas is fairly common. Me and my wife bought our house a few years ago just after I turned 23. It’s doable in some areas but in the places that a lot of young folks want to live the market is crazy.

19. A lot of us live in very low-density areas where the overwhelming majority of housing is single-family homes.

    Until relatively maybe 10-15 years ago, my area had a wide range of (single family) home prices. From small older houses that we very affordable (under $100k) to much more expensive houses. Today the median price is over $500k, and the cheaper houses are often being demolished to put more expensive houses on the land.

20. I don’t understand why anyone would WANT to live in an apartment. Having to share walls with other people or hearing them walk across their home is not how I want to live. I’d much rather own a house with a yard and without apartment management telling me what I can/cannot have around my space or balcony. I don’t think there’s an expectation but more of a want to have our own space to live in.

21. When you say “buy a flat”, I’m assuming you’re referring to what we call a condo (condominium)? Like an apartment that you own?

    If that’s the case, condos aren’t very popular in the US. You’ll see them in more populated areas but they are still very expensive in cities. In my experience, they were once popular with young professionals in cities. But now I only see retirees with condos. That’s my experience but YMMV.

    As far as renting an apartment, that’s super common for young adults in the US. It generally goes living at home –> renting an apartment –> buy a house.

    But in the right circumstances, plenty of people in their 20’s buy a house. It’s usually a smaller home and it’s not going to be in the middle of a large city. But it happens. I bought my first home when I was 26 and my colleagues around the same age were doing the same at the time. Part of it is timing. Right now is an awful time to buy a house. It was a great time when I first purchased. It also helps if you’re partner works (dual income).

    Lastly, I usually never see a house as a first major purchase. Usually that’s a car, from my experience.

22. Because while it’s currently difficult to afford a house, it’s been the norm for every generation before us so it’s deeply ingrained into our culture.

    It’s pretty normal to expect at minimum the same standard of living as your parents generation.

23. Well most young people don’t buy a house as their first large purchase. They buy a car. Or they sign up for school tuition/loans if you consider that a comparable purchase.

    But to answer your question of what type of home they expect, outside of the densest urban areas the most common type of housing is detached or semi detached single family homes. That’s what they buy because that’s what’s normal here and what’s available

24. My first property was a 560sqft condo. So *some* of us do start out that way

25. I’d go with an apartment, but the options are slim pickings. Most apartments are rentals and not up for sale.

    The kind of apartments that sell as non-rentals are usually not much cheaper than detached homes where I’m at, so why would I save like 20-50k when I can just buy a house instead? 20-50k isn’t a huge difference when the cheapest available real estate is 400k

26. Most places in the US, you can’t buy an apartment/flat. They are only for rent, which is much more expensive in the long run. We also have suburbs that are just houses, no flats. And a lot of people want to live in suburbs to raise a family. And people who buy a house, they are usually not building it, it’s already been built and lived in by other people who decided to move and sell the house.

    Owning a house is more stable. Most get loans, which most of the time are fixed for 30 years. So depending on where you buy, how much you put down on the house and how much the house costs, you can keep the low price. So for example, you are tired of paying monthly rent at your flat for $1200 in 2023. You “buy” a house, with you coordinate with your loan, cost of the house and down payment, so your monthly mortgage is $1200. Now as the years go by, the people who are staying in your old flat are now paying $1500, then $1700 a month and so on because the landlord raises the rent and also consider inflation. But you are still only paying $1200 a month and it’s contributing to your equity. Whereas if you were just renting, it’s not contributing to anything, you’re just contributing to your landlord. So then by 2053, you have paid off your house. And rent is like $4000 but you were only paying $1200. And then you don’t have to pay anything! You finally own the house. And you can sell it for a big profit, probably at least a million by then. You can sell it before then too and keep the equity whatever you have agai st the rest of your loan and still make money.

27. Prices have become ridiculous, but it is true that American youth have some very high expectations.

    Our first house was a 650 square foot two bedroom. It had no central air, and only kerosene heat.

    Now, kids think they deserve to start out life in a minimum 1500 square foot house with central air and the latest appliances, and two car garage with matching BMW’s. Otherwise they are victims of a corrupt capitalist white supremacist patriarchal system designed to keep them down.

28. It’s really difficult to find a place selling a flat. No one owns apartments, they’re really only available for month-by-month rent. If I could buy a 500 sq foot place and actually own it, I’d probably do that.

29. A couple things.

    1. We have a lot of space in the US, and there are a lot of stand alone homes. Most of our country had much lower population density than anywhere in Europe.

    2. Many of our parents and grandparents bought homes in their early 20s. Some straight from their parents homes, others after renting for a bit.

    3. I think your premise is incorrect. I know a lot of young Americans who never expect to be able to afford a house, ever. We are often upset by the fact, to be honest. We can have college educations, work in pretty decently paid jobs these days, and never expect to be able to afford what our parents could buy 3 years out of high school, with no degree, working as part time cashiers.

30. Because up until fairly recently buying a house at a young age was fairly common.

31. It’s really not that weird. Think of it this way:

    A young person is finished with their education and working a professional job in their field. They’re not planning on moving around anytime soon.

    They either live with their parents, which no one wants to do forever or are renting, which is a big chunk out of their income with no equity. Many rentals also have restrictions on things like pets, BBQs, etc.

    So Mr Youngblood wants to move out to a space of his own and not pay someone else’s mortgage. What are his options? Buy a house or a condo/townhouse.

    A house will give him the most freedom, has outdoor space, appreciates the best, and doesn’t share any surfaces with other buildings. If there’s no-HOA he’s basically Galactic Emperor. Plus, if he does any updates it can add a lot of value.

    Condos and townhomes may be more affordable at sticker price, but they all have an HOA, which only goes up and can be hit with special assessments. They also don’t have private outdoor space and you’re still sharing surfaces, plus parking is always an issue. Resale value is also extremely dependent on the other units and they don’t usually appreciate as much because they’re pretty much commodities.

    So a house makes sense. It doesn’t have to in perfect condition, it’s pretty common to buy a starter home, do some upgrades, and sell it for a good profit. Then you buy a nicer house, rinse and repeat.

32. Your submission has been automatically removed due to exceeding the text limit in your post’s textbox. Please shorten it to fewer than 500 characters (not words), including spaces and links, to comply with rule #2. Afterwards, contact us via modmail, and we’ll restore it.

    *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskAnAmerican) if you have any questions or concerns.*

33. Zoning codes in many American cities do not permit building apartments outside a few neighborhoods near the city center. Most of the apartments that do get built are rental units not available for purchase. The purchase price of the few units available for purchase is often not significantly cheaper than the cost of purchasing a standalone home further out from the city center

34. We have much much more open land than you do. Houses don’t take up nearly as much land proportionally as they do in Poland.

    Our mortgage rates are relatively low, it’s not difficult to qualify for a loan, and the legal process is smooth. I’m actually just moving out of a one bedroom apartment and into a three bedroom house with a pool. I’m paying only about $400/month more for this than my tiny one bedroom apartment, including property tax.

    The main places you buy a condominium (what you’re referring to) are in crowded cities like NYC.

35. Condos or apartments you can buy really aren’t much of a thing in America except in larger cities – and 60% of Americans live in towns of less than 50,000 people. We do have tons of apartments in smaller towns, but they’re usually for rent and not for purchase.

    So actually, it’s mostly just young people wanting to buy a home rather than rent.

36. I don’t know anyone who expected or expects that.

37. Primarily because it’s an investment. Also, personally, my wife and I feel like living in an apartment sounds like a nightmare. It’s loud, there’s no yard, you have to take an elevator every time the dog has to pee, and cities are less safe than suburbs. And that doesn’t even take children into account.

38. You don’t buy aparments in the US unless its a major city and you’re spending more than a house typically costs.

    I find many people want to buy houses in areas around major cities which are expensive. I live 20 miles outside the downtown of a major city in NY. My house was less than six figures, its old, mid 19th century initial build, it needed/needs work. Its not my dream home, its not my final home. But its an asset. I’m building equity, I can sell this house down the road and use the equity as a downpayment on a more expensive property.