A data point from the Federal Reserve, highlighted recently in a special report on housing by the Economist, underscores the differences between the financial trajectory of millennials and those of earlier generations: When baby boomers hit a median age of 35 in 1990, they owned nearly one-third of American real estate by value.
In 2019, the millennial generation, with a median age of 31, owned just 4 percent.
Because many millennials are entering their prime home-buying years, that gap will probably narrow by the time they see 35. But they’re not likely to reach 30 percent of the housing market — or even the 20 percent attained by the smaller Generation X at the same point in their lives.
