JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Millennials hoping to buy a home in 2026 say affordability pressures are intensifying, with many feeling desperate to enter the housing market even as high prices, interest rates and debt make ownership harder to reach, according to new research.
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A survey of 1,000 millennial home buyers by Clever Offers found 40% say they are desperate to buy a home this year, despite widespread financial barriers. Nearly 97% reported at least one obstacle to homeownership, most of them tied to cost.
Among the top barriers:
- 46% said homes are too expensive
- 40% cited high interest rates
- 34% said saving for a down payment is a challenge
For some millennials, timing made all the difference.
Mariah Jones, 33, recently became a homeowner after selling her previous house at the height of the market more than two years ago, a move she says allowed her to buy again before affordability worsened.
“I kind of was at the right place at the right time,” Jones said. “So I was able to get into this house.”
Jones said owning a home had always been a goal, but many of her peers have been priced out.
“I have a lot of friends who are not able to buy a home because the process is just really, it’s a lot. It’s too expensive,” she said. “And then I have some friends who their families have helped them to get to that point.”
The report echoes that experience. Two-thirds of millennials say they delayed home-buying plans by at least three years due to current market conditions, including high prices and borrowing costs .
Others are still pushing forward but only after years of sacrifice.
Randell Nugent said it took about six years of planning and saving to reach the point where he could buy a home. He is now purchasing a house just steps away from where he has rented in Riverside for the past six years.
“I kind of set the goal to buy a house about five years ago. COVID really threw a wrench in that plan,” Nugent said.
For Nugent, affordability came down to the monthly payment and whether he could save enough upfront to feel financially secure.
“I needed to save enough to be able to put down enough to where I felt comfortable having that,” Nugent said.
He said getting there required lifestyle changes, including cutting back on eating out, cooking at home and taking on additional work to funnel money into savings.
“All that money I just put right into savings,” Nugent said. “Just had to be smart with my money and not spend too frivolously.”
Despite those efforts, Nugent believes his generation faces steeper challenges than those before it.
“The prices of the homes - I don’t think wages aren’t necessarily where they were [for our parents]in relevance to what housing or anything costs,” he said. “You know, the rising cost of everything.”
Still, 72% of millennials still believe homeownership is part of the American dream, even as three out of four say the average millennial cannot afford a home today.
For Jones, the payoff is worth it.
“I enjoy having something that belongs to me,” she said. “At the end of the day, it’s my home, and I can make all the shots and all the rules.”