Young consumers increasingly turn to family for home buying help

Young aspiring homeowners are increasingly reliant on the bank of mom and dad to help make their purchase, new research finds.

Over a third of Generation Z and millennials who plan to buy a home in the near term are expecting to use, in part, gifts from family to help with a down payment, according to a report by Redfin. The 36% share is twice as large as it was just five years ago, the online real-estate brokerage said. 

In a 2019 millennial-only poll, 18% said they were turning to family for assistance, The portion increased by only 5 percentage points to 23% last year. 

Despite the surge in family support, Gen Z and millennial buyers are also trying to do their part as well in most cases. Approximately 60% of consumers in the same age demographics are regularly saving income to fund a down payment, with 39% also taking on second jobs to help them reach their homeownership goals, Redfin found.

Further down the list of likely funding options was the sale of stock investments, mentioned by 29%, while 22% said they would consider drawing early from retirement funds.   

The rising share of consumers using family gifts for a leg up points to a larger affordability issue that makes even a starter-home purchase beyond reach for many, according to Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. 

"Because housing costs have soared so much, many young adults with family money get help from mom and dad even when they have jobs and earn a perfectly respectable income," she said in a press release. 

"The bigger problem is that young Americans who don't have family money are often shut out of homeownership. Many of them earn a perfectly good income, too, but they aren't able to afford a home because they're at a generational disadvantage; they don't have a pot of family money to dip into."

Heightened attention on housing challenges, particularly related to the difficulty in coming up with down payment and closing-cost funding, has turned much of the mortgage industry's attention toward buyer assistance resources in the past several months. Last year, housing agencies across the country added 135 new programs, a 6% increase from 2022, according to data from Down Payment Resource. 

But consumers are sometimes not fully aware of the benefits offered. To address some of the information gap, Freddie Mac also unveiled a portal last fall to help aspiring homeowners and their mortgage lenders find down payment assistance they might qualify for.

As of January this year, just under 2,300 of such programs were available across the country, provided by a combination of groups, including state housing agencies, municipalities and nonprofits, Down Payment Resource said.

In March, two financial institutions announced their plans to up homebuyer assistance efforts. Atlanta-based Citizens Trust Bank launched a new down payment grant program, offering a maximum of $2,000 to eligible borrowers that can help reduce initial costs of the home purchase. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago said it would increase the amount made available to each of its Midwestern member institutions to $1 million for funding of their own homebuyer grant programs. The new total represents a 43% increase from the 2023 limit of $700,000, while the overall budget for the Chicago bank's down payment assistance projects is now over $39 million. Eligible first-time mortgage borrowers will have access to up to $10,000 of financial aid when financing through a member bank or their partners.

Despite recent slowing in home price growth, the current level of housing costs is the No. 1 reason young consumers are opting not to buy in today's market, Redfin said. In its survey, 43% of the segment not in the market cited it as a factor, followed by 34% who said the inability to save for a down payment deterred them. The challenge of keeping up with mortgage payments and perceived high interest-rate levels was each noted by 29%.

Housing affordability looks likely to rise in the public eye this year, with President Biden seemingly ready to make it a talking point during campaign season. In his recent State of the Union address, Biden called for mortgage tax credits, title insurance alternatives and up to $25,000 in down payment assistance in order to help address affordability challenges the country faces.

Housing issues could play a role in the final presidential election result. In a previous Redfin analysis, its researchers found a majority of U.S. households indicating home affordability might influence who they vote for this year.