José Matos, 24, searches for potential homes on Zillow alongside his mother, Lizet Rodriguez, at their home in Miami on May 10. Matos has been house-hunting with Rodriguez, who is putting $50,000 for the down payment and will co-sign the loan. Home buyers are increasingly turning to family members, most often parents, for help buying a house in overpriced and undersupplied markets, reflecting a shift in the way many families finance homeownership.
The trend of more younger home buyers, who are more often first-timers, seeking parental help to reach a middle-class milestone is just the latest sign of growing disparities between younger generations and older ones who have had more opportunities over the past 20 years to lock in cheaper mortgages.
At the same time, home prices, which spiked during the pandemic, remain high with the median at $420,800, according to census data. “As a mother, I want to do all I can to give my children a better future,” said Rodriguez, 61, who runs a short-term rental business in Miami. “We are first-generation immigrants in this country, and we have to stick together and help each other if we want to get ahead.”Matos is among a growing group of 20- and 30-somethings who are moving straight from their childhood bedrooms into their first homes.
A record 16 percent of her firm’s clients “partnered” with a friend or relative to purchase a home last year, up from 7 percent the year before, Modares said.