Looming over my dining-room table, I sifted through envelopes after walking back from my apartment complex’s mail room earlier this week. Amid the junk mail, I noticed a pamphlet from my bank explaining some of the resources available to first-time home buyers. “Phew, I’m years away from needing this,” I thought to myself with a hint of despondency.
Unfortunately, despite following the lessons of frugality ingrained into me as a result of my modest, lower-middle-class upbringing, “life” has happened to me, as I’m sure it has happened to many of us. A major car repair here. A hospital bill there. A necessary computer upgrade for my spouse who is pursuing a degree in a tech field before moving on to disciplines that further relate to their career goals.
The road to a debt-free life is riddled with unexpected potholes, and while I have been chipping away at our loans for the better part of two years now, unavoidable expenses continue to pile up, undoing some of my progress. Forgive me for venting, but that bites. I’m sure a considerable number of you can relate.
So, no. I won’t be buying a home soon—not until I’m able to build savings again. And I’m not alone. In a 2023 Bankrate financial-security survey, a majority of millennial participants (people currently between the ages of 28 and 43) cited personal affordability concerns, elevated home values and high mortgage rates as obstacles to owning a residence. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan climbed from 3.22% in January 2022 to 6.48% by December that same year, more than doubling in 12 months’ time.
Only 42% of millennials have bought their first home by age 30, compared to 48% of gen Xers and 51% of baby boomers by the same age, and this gap continues for the older millennials who have already reached 40 years old.
Just six years ago, a childhood friend of mine and his wife bought a decent home for a little under $70,000. Nowadays, Zillow is presenting fixer-uppers at four times that price. In the year 2000, the median price of a new, single-family home in the United States was $169,000. As of May 2024, the median price is $440,000. Even when you adjust for inflation, homes just cost more now than they did 20-odd years ago.
Vice President and Democratic Nominee Kamala Harris has outlined a strategy for addressing the housing shortage and bringing down prices for renters and homeowners alike. Her plan has its critics, but it’s a goal our leaders need to be thinking about. Regardless of whom the American people elect in November, I hope to see some regulation in the housing market. I’m tired of my rent going up another hundred dollars per month every year I renew my lease, and I’m tired of rolling over and accepting those price hikes because I have limited options.
Renting has not been the worst experience, but I would love to trade my lease for a title to a house I can call my own. Success isn’t measured by our possessions, I know, but having a place that I know is mine (and my partner’s) is a sliver of the American dream that I’m still chasing.
So, I’ll carry the weight of my loans a little longer. Once they’re paid off, I’ll begin to work toward having more than a meager $20 in my savings account. Who knows, maybe I’ll be writing an editor’s note in 18 months about how I managed to afford a down payment on my first home by my 30th birthday.
This MFP Voices essay does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
