Exclusive: most renters surveyed by Harris Poll say the areas they live in have become so unaffordable they are ‘barely livable’
The poll, conducted by the Harris Poll Thought Leadership and Future Practice, asked survey takers to identify themselves as renters or homeowners, along with other demographic information. Those polled were asked their opinion on home ownership in the United States. For many, especially renters, the outlook is bleak.
Though the vast majority of renters polled said they want to own a home in the future, 61% said they are worried they will never be able to. A similar percentage believe no matter how hard they work, they’ll never be able to afford a home.
“When you think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and housing is right at that foundational level of security, the implications on consumer psyche when things feel so unaffordable is something that will impact everyone,” said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at Harris Poll. The American dream of owning a home “is looking more like a daydream for renters”.
As a millennial that does own my own home, I’ll chime in and say houses are absolutely not affordable these days.
My wife and I put off getting married and out all of our money towards buying a home less than 10 years ago. A shitty 100 year old house in a rough neighborhood of a rust belt city. Terrible school district, but we were hoping to at least break the rent cycle and be in position to upgrade later on.
My career has gone better than expected, but the housing market is absolutely insane. The house I got for $85k now estimates over $165k, and that’s not even factoring in the home improvements we’ve done. Completely given up on ever having kids and pretty much given up on ever moving. We did everything right, followed the rules, and had pretty good luck. No major car accidents, no layoffs, no medical bankruptcy. Generally disciplined in our spending (I’m an accountant). The closest we’ve had to vacation in 15 years was a 2-day mid-week trip to Cleveland to see a band play. The only bad luck was neither of us were born into wealth.
If you only own and live in one home at a time it doesn’t matter a ton how the market is doing at any given moment. Low prices mean I get less for my house, but I can upgrade more cheaply. High prices means I’ll get more cash, but buying a new house costs more. There’s relatively minor differences to things like taxes and insurance, and you could dive into the math for exact examples, but for the most part it’s a pretty minor consideration as long as you have a house to sell and will need to buy a replacement. The people most affected by housing price changes are people who have 0 houses and people who are looking to sell without buying (owners converting to renters, retirees, landlords cashing out, estates, etc).