There is one statement that is almost always true among the majority of homeowners: Homeownership is an older person’s game. The key word is majority. While younger people buy housing every day, when the homeownership metric is viewed with respect to age, it is highly correlated.
LendingTree examined the 100 largest metros in the U.S. in the following factors. These data were taken from U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which studied occupied households from 2012 to 2016, with the following metrics
- Average Age of the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
- Average Age Across All Occupied Housing Units
- Average Owner’s Age in Owner Occupied Housing Units
- Average Renter’s Age in Renter Occupied Housing Units
When looking at all 100 metros:
- The Average Homeowner’s Age in the 100 largest U.S. metros was 50 or more in 98 out of 100, with only Ogden, Utah at 47.3 years and Provo, Utah, at 49.4 less than 50 years old.
- The Average Homeowner’s Age was 15.8 years greater than the Average MSA Age
- The Average Renter’s Age was 2.3 years greater than the Average MSA Age. There were only six Metros in which the Average Renter’s Age was less than the Average Age of the MSA, as shown in the following table. The difference is expressed in years.
The following table shows the 10 metros out of the 100 largest in the U.S., ranked by the highest average age among homeowners. The average homeowners age in the top-10 ranged from 56.4 years to 63.3 years. Florida captured seven of the top-10 slots.
The next table shows the Metros with the youngest Average Homeowner Age. Utah garnered all three of the youngest homeowners with Texas taking three in the youngest 10 metros.
The following table shows all 100 largest metros and corresponding ages across the MSA and housing.
To read the LendingTree summary article click https://www.lendingtree.com/press-release/average-homeowner-age-across-us
To read the entire study click https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/average-homeowner-age-across-100-largest-u-s-metropolitan-areas/
Without question, age in highly correlated to homeownership. A Harvard study pointed out that 63 percent of U.S. homeowners are at least 50 years of age.
While owning a home is not necessarily the best housing option for everyone, it remains the largest store of wealth for the typical U.S. household. A recent study by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing found that the median net worth of homeowners aged 50 to 64 was $292,000, almost 60 times greater than renters of the same age.
Ted