Abodo Report
Where Texas millennials are buying homes — and how much they cost
For years, the percentage of 18- to 35-year-olds who own homes has been shrinking — by nearly 20 percent between 2005 and 2015. But recently, according to apartment-search site Abodo, millennials have been making progress in becoming homeowners, with a slight uptick in young adult owners between 2014 and 2015.
To be clear, the numbers are still weak — but encouraging nonetheless.
So where, exactly, are these millennial homeowners? According to Abodo's Millennial Homebuyers report, for the most part, they're scattered around the Midwest and South. Of the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, had the highest percentage of millennials who own: 51 percent. On the other hand, the metro with the lowest percentage is absolutely no surprise: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim with 17.8 percent.
The Lone Star State showed up in the rankings as well: McAllen-Edinburg-Mission took fourth place for highest percentage of millennials who own, coming in at just over 43 percent. As a whole, 30.5 percent of millennials are homeowners in the state.
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land takes No. 74 of the top 100 largest metros with 29.1 percent of millennials owning homes, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranks No. 77 with 28.7 percent. San Antonio-New Braunfels comes in at No. 71 with 29.2 percent and Austin is at No. 89, with only 26.5 percent of millennials owning homes.
Despite the low rankings for Texas' largest cities, the state scored well overall, especially when it comes to millennial down payments and home values. It takes Texas millennials an average of seven-and-a-half years to save up a down payment — which, on the whole, is a fantastic number, given that the national average is 15.6 years. (In Houston, it takes 11 years to save for a down payment.)
When Abodo measured how much millennial-owned homes cost compared to the average home price in each metro, Texas scored three places in the top 10 for most equal value and had no presence in the bottom 10.
At No. 1 nationwide is El Paso, where the average millennial-owned home cost 104.8 percent of the average area home. San Antonio-New Braunfels came in at No. 3 with 97.1 percent, and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission ranked No. 9 with 90.4 percent.