Gen Z Is Slowly Entering the Housing Market

The share of homeowners in Generation Z improved in 2025. Even so, the youngest generation of homeowners still owns less homes compared with older generations when they were the same age

Jan. 27, 2026

Gen Z couple touring a home with a real estate agent — The share of Gen Z homeowners increased in 2025.

Home purchases were generally slow in 2025, but the share of buyers in Generation Z actually grew over the course of the year. According to recent data from real estate marketing platform Redfin, the share of Gen Z homeowners grew from 26.1% in 2024 to 27.1% by the end of 2025. Millennials also saw gains in homeownership. However, with many Millennials already owning homes, that increase was much smaller, growing from 54.9% in 2024 to 55.4% in 2025.

The reality is that with housing costs still historically high, many young Americans are making compromises on location, size or timing to get their foot in the homeownership door and start building equity. Gen Zers and Millennials are making small gains in homeownership because they’re eager to buy, they’re making sacrifices, and because affordability has improved a bit at the margins–not because homes suddenly became affordable. We expect the slow progress to continue this year, with housing costs dipping slightly while wages rise.
- Asad Khan, senior economist at Redfin

While the homeownership rate for younger generations improved, older generations still owned more homes when they were the same age

Despite the growing homeownership rate, young people own less homes than previous generations when they were the same age. For instance, 28-year-olds in 2025 owned 38.3% of all homes in the U.S., compared with 42.5% of Gen Xers when they were that age.

The same can be said for the Millennial generation. Looking at 36-year-olds, 57.2% of this age group owned their home in 2025, compared with 61.2% of Gen Xers and 63.7% of Baby Boomers when they were 36.