Salt Lake City has the highest number of Gen Z homebuyers

The youngest group of adults in the country, Generation Z, are choosing Salt Lake City, Utah, above other cities as the location where they want put down roots.

That’s according to a new study from LendingTree, the marketplace that links mortgage applicants with lenders. 

The Crossroads of the West narrowly beat out Oklahoma City, where down payments are as low as $18,752, to the number one spot with Birmingham, Alabama, rounding out the top three. 

At the other end of the spectrum, crime and drug ridden San Francisco is by far the most unpopular choice. 

The City by the Bay is followed in the race to the bottom by New York City, with average down payments for 18 to 25-year-old’s at $66,561 and $46,476 respectively.

Salt Lake City, Utah, is the most popular location for Generation Z homeowners 

Lending Tree analyzed data from the 50 biggest metro areas in the country through 2022 to establish their findings. Typically, Generation Z is considered those born between 1997 and 2012. 

The generation accounts for just under 15 percent of all homebuyers across the US. 

The Lending Tree study attributes Salt Lake City’s presence at the top of the list to a strong job market and ‘good blend of urban and rural amenities.’ While Birmingham and Oklahoma City’s presence is due to the inexpensive mortgage rates. 

Crime is not mentioned as a reason for the presence of San Francisco, New York and San Jose, at the bottom of the list – but the exorbitant price of real estate is cited. 

A total of six of the ten least popular cities are located in California. Again, ‘expensive real estate’ is listed as the reason. 

The biggest disparity between average down payment costs come between Oklahoma City, where it’s $18,752, and San Jose, where it’s $77,786. 

It’s Buffalo, New York, which comes in a 16 on the list where the Generation Zers with the highest average credit score of 707 can be found. 

Slightly below Buffalo, at 23, is New Orleans, where the lowest average credit score of 651 can be found.  

The lowest amount on average borrowed by Generation Zers is in Cleveland, 17 on the list, where typically people lend $193,600. The highest average amount borrowed is $541,436, which is given out in San Jose. 

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New York City is the second most popular place for young homeowners to buy, according to the Lending Tree study 

Members of San Francisco’s homeless community. The City by the Bay is the least popular city for Gen Zers looking to buy a home 

Zion National Park in Utah, the author of the Lending Tree study mentioned the mix of urban and rural activities in the Beehive State as being a reason for its popularity 

Lending Tree’s assessment on the study is that it ‘helps dispel the myth that homeownership is impossible for all young Americans.’ 

Despite this, the conclusion states that due to stagnant salaries and a lack of experience of the housing market, living at home and renting remain the most popular options for members of Generation Z.  

‘Many cities in California and places like New York and Washington, D.C., are really expensive parts of the country, so although there are lots of 23-year-olds that would love to buy a house in San Francisco or Brooklyn, the truth of the matter is it’s really expensive,’ the study’s author Jacob Channel told CBS News. 

‘Younger people are in a situation where mortgage rates are high, home prices are high, and they haven’t had careers for very long so they don’t have as much savings,’ Channel added. 

Channel did say that it’s likely that many of the 15 percent of homebuyers who are members of Gen Z likely come from a wealthier demographic. 

He also spoke highly of Salt Lake City saying that if you grow tired of the city, you can easily get out to the country for hiking or kayaking.

‘There’s wilderness close by, but fewer people [in NYC] have cars and it’s harder to get there than if you lived in Salt Lake,’ Channel said. 

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this month to its highest level since November, driving up borrowing costs for would-be homebuyers at a time when the housing market is being held back by a near record-low inventory of homes on the market. 

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 6.79 percent from 6.57 percent last week. A year ago, the rate averaged 5.09 percent.

The latest increase marks the third in three weeks and lifts the average rate on a 30-year home loan to its highest level since it surged to over seven percent in November. 

High rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for homebuyers, limiting how much they can afford in a market that remains unaffordable to many Americans after years of soaring home prices and historically low levels of housing inventory. 

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk