Millennials are now a homeowner-majority generation. New research from RentCafe shows 51.5% of Millennials own a home, flipping from a renter-majority to an owner-majority.
There were 18.2 million Millennial homeowners in 2022, up 7.1 million owners during the past five years. There are still 17.2 million Millennial renter households. Generation Z is now the largest group of renters with 74% of the group’s share renting apartments. Gen Z witnessed a 4.5 million renter boost during the past five years. Baby Boomer owners are at 32.1 million followed by Generation X at 24.4 million owners. While the top renter share, Gen Z has 2 million owners.
During this five-year window, Boomer, Gen X and Millennial renters declined as did Boomer owners. Some of this is attributed to the large jump in Millennial median income, which witnessed a 44% increase during the five years to $108,000 per year in 2022.
Among the top 50 U.S. metros, Richmond, Va., had the highest Millennial ownership jump during the past five years at 234%. The next closest were Las Vegas and Milwaukee at 157%. Cleveland and Raleigh, N.C., showed similar Millennial renter increases at around 85%. The next closest metro was San Jose, Calif., at a roughly 50% increase.