Our Blogs

Lower FHA Payments Bring Millennials Back to the Housing Market

July 28, 2015

Millennials – the American generation that reached adulthood in the 1990’s – are reported to be back in the housing market, according to an article in the July issue of Market Watch. Earlier this year, the Federal Housing Administration began reducing mortgage insurance premiums on its loans by an average of $900 a year. While FHA loans typically require lower down payments, they often have higher monthly payments because of the mortgage insurance that is required. “Federal agencies tasked with boosting homeownership may have found their silver bullet when it comes to getting first time and millennial home buyers off the fence,” according to the article in Market Watch. Now it appears the mortgage insurance premium reduction is having the desired effect. Data from the Irvine, Calif., real-estate research firm RealtyTrac shows that FHA loans were used in 23% of all financed purchases in the second quarter of 2015, up from 19% in the second quarter of 2014. The FHA program, which historically has been aimed at first-time home buyers, lowered mortgage insurance premiums for borrowers by about $900 a year and took effect on Jan. 26 of this year. It may be the catalyst for an increase in millennial borrowers and first-time home buyers, according to Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “So far the FHA premium reduction is having a bigger impact on getting millennial first-time buyers, and other low down-payment borrowers such as former homeowners returning to the housing market off the fence” than other federal programs, Blomquist said in an email. Known as the “Peter Pan” generation, Millennials have an impact on the housing market because of their history of delaying the purchase of a home until later in life. American sociologist Kathleen Shaputis labeled Millennials as the boomerang generation or Peter Pan generation, because of the members perceived tendency for delaying some rites of passage into adulthood for longer periods than most generations before them. These labels were also a reference to a trend toward members living with their parents for longer periods than previous generations The Census Bureau projects that by the end of 2015 the millennial population will be at 75.3 million people.