Silicon Valley homeownership: Pretty much forget it, if you’re a millennial

My advice to young people in the valley is that home ownership is still possible but they need to start saving early, go to college and then get that good paying tech job, of which there are plenty. Granted, buying their first home is not as easy for millennials as it was in my parents day, but IT IS STILL DOABLE! Also, keep in mind that it is still a hot market right now in the silicon valley, a real estate market that won't stay hot forever at which time prices will go down. 


Surprise, surprise.

Young people can’t afford to buy homes in Silicon Valley.

The folks at Earnest – the San Francisco-based lender – report that millennials in the San Francisco and San Jose metropolitan areas have the lowest rates of homeownership in the nation: 6 percent and 7 percent, respectively. The Los Angeles and New York metros follow at 8 percent in the analysis, based on data from Earnest’s loan applicants.

Compare those dreary numbers with other metros where millennials (ages 18-35) are faring better: Miami (where 16 percent own homes), Seattle (17 percent), Houston (27 percent), Salt Lake City (32 percent) and St. Louis (35 percent).

“The high cost of homeownership is delaying buying among those aged 25-35, the years when home buying accelerates,” Earnest tells us. The dismal San Francisco and San Jose ownership rates stand in contrast to another set of numbers: “These job hubs also have the highest median incomes in Earnest’s data-set for this age range: $81,000 in San Francisco and $86,000 in San Jose, as compared with $56,000 across the U.S. overall.”

To complete the picture, the analysis looked at the age threshold in each metro when 25 percent own their own home. Topping the list is San Jose, where it’s not until age 42.5 that 25 percent own homes; the metro (which includes Santa Clara and San Benito counties) also has the highest median home cost, $958,000, according to the Zillow Home Value Index. In San Francisco, 25 percent own homes by age 42, while the median home cost is $812,000. (The San Francisco metro includes San Francisco, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda and Marin counties.)

You can look at various charts and read Earnest’s report here.

Sorry, but if you live in California, you just won’t feel encouraged by this national analysis: “Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, and Riverside are also among the 15 least affordable metros, both by highest median home costs and by highest age when 25 percent own.”

Source: Silicon Beat, Richard Scheinin
http://www.siliconbeat.com/2016/08/29/silicon-valley-homeownership-pretty-much-forget-youre-millennial/