Why Gen Z Isn’t Buying Homes Yet

NEW YORK — 

Gen Z buyers make up 3% of all buyers, compared with 42% of buyers from the Baby Boomer generation in 2025, the National Association of Realtors® said.  While high house prices and interest rates may be partly to blame for younger buyers standing on the sidelines of the housing market, some suggest that money management may be playing a role as well in their home buying decisions.

According to PYMNTS Intelligence, Gen Z's top financial priority is paying down debt, with the average Gen Z adult carrying $94,101 in personal debt, a significant portion of which is on credit cards.

Having large sums of income tied up with monthly payments has even high-earning Gen Z adults unable to save for a down payment on a home.

Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, said, "Though Gen Z Americans may dream of homeownership, still-high housing costs mean that stepping onto the property ladder may not be possible at this point in time. By prioritizing paying off debt, Gen Z prospective buyers are setting themselves up for success when homeownership does become more feasible."

According to PYMNTS, there are two types of money management mindsets: Reactors and planners.

About 73% of Gen Z adults are reactors, meaning they live paycheck to paycheck, carry high-interest debt and struggle to build savings – a money management style that makes it harder to save money toward larger purchases, such as buying a house.

The number of wealthier adults who identify as planners, those who save and plan out purchases, has declined by 25%. About 52% of top earners are reactors who are focused on short-term financial thinking and chasing growth.

Twenty-two percent of Baby Boomers see retirement saving as a top priority, while 7.7% of Gen Z say the same. The number of Gen Z adults who have starting a business as their No. 1 goal reached about 7%, making them eight times more likely than Baby Boomers to focus on entrepreneurship.

Today's buyers need to earn 70% more than they did six years ago to buy a home.

Source: Realtor.com (06/09/25) Conte, Allaire

© Copyright 2025 Smithbucklin

Florida’s May Housing: Inventory Up, Prices Drop

 By Marla Martin

Over the past few months, “Florida’s housing market is finding its balance, and that’s good for buyers and sellers alike,” said Florida Realtors Pres. Tim Weisheyer.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida’s housing market in May reported increased for-sale inventory (active listings) and lower median prices compared to a year ago – statewide trends over the past few months, according to Florida Realtors®’ latest housing data.

“Florida’s housing market is finding its balance, and that’s good for buyers and sellers alike,” said 2025 Florida Realtors President Tim Weisheyer, broker-owner of Dream Builders Realty and dbrCommercial Real Estate Services in Central Florida. “We’re seeing more inventory, more opportunity, and a market that’s shifting toward sustainability after years of intense demand. Buyers are adjusting to today’s interest rates and focusing on long-term value, while motivated sellers are pricing with strategy in mind.

“In this evolving market, preparation and expert guidance are key – and that’s exactly where your local Realtor® makes the difference.”

Closed sales of existing single-family homes statewide in May totaled 24,756, down 5.7% year-over-year, while existing condo-townhouse sales totaled 8,345, down 19.9% over May 2024. Closed sales may occur from 30- to 90-plus days after sales contracts are written.

The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes last month was $415,000, down 2.7% from the previous year, according to data from Florida Realtors Research Department in partnership with local Realtor boards/associations. Last month’s statewide median price for condo-townhouse units was $310,000, down 6.1% over the year-ago figure. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.

Looking at the statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes in May, Florida Realtors Chief Economist Dr. Brad O’Connor noted that while last month marks the third consecutive month for a year-over-year drop, May’s decline was less than what was seen in April.

“But there is a clear divergence from last year’s price levels starting to emerge,” he said. “Still, prices remain in the neighborhood of where they’ve been since early 2022 and are 54% above where they were at this time in 2020. May’s year-over-year decline at the state level also masks some considerable variation at the local level, with the median price for single-family homes only falling in 13 of Florida’s 22 metropolitan areas.”

However, price erosion in the condo and townhouse category began in July of last year, O’Connor said, a trend continuing in May. He pointed out that statewide median prices for condo and townhouse units are “still 54% higher than in 2020 – the same difference observed for the single-family side of the market – but in this case, there is more uniformity at the local level, with 19 of Florida’s 22 metros seeing a year-over-year price decline in May.”

With for-sale inventory in Florida on the rise, some price weakness in both property categories is to be expected, according to O’Connor.

He added, “We’ve been chronicling the expansion of Florida’s inventory of homes for sale since early 2022. For more than a year, within both property type categories, inventory levels have been in excess of the levels that were typical of the period of housing market stability we experienced from 2014 through 2019. They remain well below the levels we were seeing in 2008 when we experienced a large price correction during the Great Financial Crisis, which is why right now we are only seeing some minor price erosion by comparison.”

On the supply side of the market, inventory (active listings) rose 28.8% year-over-year for both existing single-family homes and for existing condo-townhouse properties compared to May 2024.

Single-family existing homes were at a 5.6-months’ supply last month while condo-townhouse units were at a 10.3-months’ supply.

© 2025 Florida Realtors®

For Sale Inventory Surpasses 1 Million Homes in U.S.

 Nationally, active listings surpassed the 1 million mark for the first time since winter 2019, while newly listed homes rose 7.2% year-over-year.

AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. housing market is staging a comeback, but the rebound is sharply divided, according to the May Monthly Housing Trends Report from Realtor.com. The number of homes for sale in the U.S. topped 1 million for the first time since winter 2019, but only metros in the South or West have fully returned to pre-pandemic inventory levels as the Northeast and Midwest remain stuck in a supply squeeze.

"The number of homes for sale is growing, and even hit a key milestone in May, with more than a million active listings. But not every housing market is equally well-supplied," said Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. "Recent construction trends explain a lot of the variation in recovery that we see across markets. Many markets that built aggressively during and after the pandemic are now seeing more listings, longer time on market, and even some modest price softening. In contrast, markets that didn't build as many homes are still facing an acute shortage, which continues to prop up prices and limit buyer options."

Inventory is recovering faster in the South and West

All 50 of the largest U.S. metros posted annual inventory gains in May 2025. But, just 22 have fully rebounded to their 2017–2019 inventory norms, and every single one is in the South or West. When it comes to active inventory, cities like Denver (+100.0% vs. pre-pandemic), Austin, Texas (+69.0%) and Seattle, Washington (+60.9%) lead the way, thanks in large part to a post-2020 construction boom. On the flip side, metros like Hartford, Conn. (-77.7%), Chicago (-59.3%) and Virginia Beach, Va. (-56.7%) have recovered the least.

"More homes on the market means buyers finally have options and leverage they haven't had in years," said Gary Ashton, founder of The Ashton Real Estate Group of RE/MAX Advantage in Nashville. "But the strategy for buyers and their agents this spring largely depends on where you live. In Southern locales, like Nashville, the average sales price has increased by 3% as homes remain on the market for longer and local supply increases. We can expect to see sellers get creative with offering concessions to buyers and start to consider more price reductions."

More homes on the market, but affordability is keeping them out of reach

Nationally, active listings surpassed the 1 million mark for the first time since winter 2019, while newly listed homes rose 7.2% year-over-year. But these increases haven't translated into a hot spring buying season. Homes took a median 51 days to sell, six days longer than last year and price cuts rose for the fifth straight month.

In May 2025, 19.1% of listings featured reduced prices, the highest share for any May since at least 2016. Metros with the steepest price reductions were mostly in the West and South, including Phoenix, Ariz. (31.3%), Tampa, Fla. (29.9%), and Denver, Colo. (29.4%).

Why new construction is the great divider

The Realtor.com analysis found a clear link between pandemic-era building activity and today's inventory conditions. Metros that built more housing like Austin, Nashville and Denver have generally returned to pre-2020 inventory levels. Those with less new construction like New York, Boston and Buffalo, N.Y., have not.

This uneven recovery mirrors findings from a recent Realtor.com Housing Supply Gap report, which identified a nationwide shortfall of nearly 4 million homes, and without meaningful changes to zoning, permitting, and construction incentives, supply-constrained regions, especially in the Northeast and Midwest, risk falling even further behind.

Methodology

Realtor.com housing data as of May 2025. Listings include the active inventory of existing single-family homes and condos/townhomes/row homes/co-ops for the given level of geography on Realtor.com; new construction is excluded unless listed via an MLS that provides listing data to Realtor.com. Realtor.com data history goes back to July 2016. The 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas as defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB-202301) and Claritas 2025 estimates of household counts.

Beginning with the April 2025 report, Realtor.com has transitioned to a revised national pending home sales data series that applies enhanced cleaning methods to improve consistency and accuracy over time. While the insights and commentary in this report reflect the new series, the downloadable data remains based on our legacy automated pipeline. As a result, there may be slight differences between the report figures and those in the national download file as the transition continues.

With the release of its January 2025 housing trends report, Realtor.com has restated data points for some previous months. As a result of these changes, some of the data released since January 2025 will not be directly comparable with previous data releases (files downloaded before January 2025) and Realtor.com® economics research reports.

Source: Realtor.com

© 2025 Florida Realtors®