Is Homeownership Passed from Parent to Child?
We’ve learned a lot recently about how the neighborhood where a child grows up has lifetime consequences for income, health, and housing. Now a new report from the Urban Institute reveals that children of homeowners are more likely to become homeowners themselves, as compared to the children of renters—even when all else is equal.
The homeownership rate for Millennials is already 7-8% less than Gen X-er’s and Baby Boomers when those generations were in that age range, so this study adds another perspective that can help craft local housing strategies aimed at reversing this trend.
Further, homeownership rates, as well as household wealth, are much higher for white parents than for African-American parents—another factor that compounds the persistent racial homeownership gap. Closing this gap to create more wealth-building opportunities for minorities will pay dividends not just for the current generation, but for the next.
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