It’s time to lighten up on the younger crowd: millennial homebuyers are actively purchasing new properties. According to new research from Metrostudy, millennials are buying more new homes than baby boomers in 88 percent of the top 100 Core Base Statistical Areas (CBSAs).
In 33 percent of the top metro areas, millennials are even outpacing Generation X in new home buying habits. Nationwide, 16.7 percent of millennials purchased a resale home, and 30.04 percent bought a new home.
Generation X on national basis is still outpacing millennials for both home sales and resale homes, though, at 31.96 percent and 25.9 percent, respectively.
Of the top 100 markets, San Antonio had the largest pool of millennials purchasing new homes. The San Antonio-New Braufels area had 39.60 percent of homes purchased by millennials, 30.33 percent purchased by Generation X and 13.96 percent were bought by Baby Boomers.
Texas cities dominated the list. Austin-Round Rock, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington all ranked within the top eight metros where millennials comprise a large percentage of homebuyers.
In Houston, 11.57 percent of new home closings were by Baby Boomers, 35.56 percent were bought by Generation X and 34.47 percent were bought by millennials.
In the Chicago metro, which includes parts of northwest Indiana and southeast Wisconsin, there were a total of 729,157 millennial households. The majority of those households were entry-level.
In the Washington, D.C., metro, there were a total of 447,862 millennial househoods. The sector called “family life” comprised the largest volume of buyers.
Where millennials buy the most expensive homes
The top four metros where millennials’ top median home sales are located in California. Ranking in the top spot, Napa had three home closings with a median home price of $762,500.
The Bay Area rounded out the top three, with San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ranking no. 2 and no. 3. The San Francisco metro had 451 new home closings with a median home price of $696,700. The new home closings median price was $640,700 in San Jose, which was comprised of 133 closings.
Southern California metro Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ranked fourth. The median home price was $612,900 with 537 new home closings.
