DENVER — A report released Tuesday finds more millennials who are renting plan to continue renting forever.
ApartmentList.com surveyed more than 10,000 renters between the ages of 23 and 38 and found affordability is the biggest obstacle to home ownership.
In the Denver metro area, only 20 percent of millennial renters are on track to save enough money for a 10-percent down payment within the next five years, according to ApartmentList. Twelve percent of millennial renters in Denver expect they'll continue renting for life.
Metropolitan University of Denver Professor Darrin Duber-Smith said home prices in Denver are too high for most millennials to afford.
"They’re making 40 percent less than my generation, Generation X, was making at this time, and 20 percent less than the Baby Boomers," Duber-Smith said.
The Colorado Real Estate Journal reports the median price of a home in the Denver metro is $455,000. Home prices more than doubled between 2009 and 2019.
According to ApartmentList.com, 70 percent of millennial renters are waiting because they cannot afford to buy, while 33 percent say they are not ready to settle into a more permanent lifestyle.
Duber-Smith agreed that millennials do seem to have different priorities than their parents' generation.
"When you’re spending your money on restaurants, and trips and experiences and things like that, it’s tough to have the money to put down on these sorts of assets," he said.
