Nearly half of all non-homeowners say that their financial situation is preventing them from buying a home, a new report from Bankrate.com showed.
According to Bankrate’s survey, nearly 30% of all non-homeowners say that they can’t afford a down payment, despite only needing to save 3% for a down payment.
Additionally, 16% of the survey respondents said they felt that their credit isn't good enough to qualify for a mortgage.
According to Bankrate’s survey, which was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International via telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 2,002 adults living in the continental United States, more than one-third of non-homeowners (35%) say they don't own because they just don't want to be homeowners yet.
And for all the hubbub about waiting for the great wave of Millennials to save the housing industry, Bankrate’s survey showed that 44% of Millennials don’t want to own a home right now, which may suggest that more Millennials are planning on settling down later in life and are not looking for long-term commitment.
According to Bankrate, an eve more surprising result of the survey is that more than 40% of middle-aged Americans don’t own a home, and 31% of those non-homeowners cite not being able to afford a down payment as the main reason.
Another 20% claim that bad credit is preventing them from getting a mortgage.
"It's not surprising that a lot of millennials aren't interested in home ownership yet. Renting allows them more freedom to move," said Holden Lewis, Bankrate.com’s senior mortgage analyst. "For people in the prime child-rearing years of 30 to 49, it's more complicated. A lot of them have income and credit issues that might have roots in the recession.”
