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During the early 1980s, the median net worth of a household headed by someone under 35 was $15,260, while for a household headed by someone over 65 it was $120,500. You would expect this roughly 10-to-1 wealth difference, because people’s earning power and savings grow over time.
What we’re seeing today is quite different. As of 2013, the gap between old and young is twice that: 20 to 1. The typical older household now has $210,500 in wealth compared to $10,500 for a younger household. I expect that gap to widen further when more data come out.
No doubt the cause is multifaceted. But one important factor is home ownership opportunity. The home ownership rate among the older generation has been fairly steady over the recent housing cycle of bubble-bust-recovery, with nearly 80 percent of those over 65 owning a property. But the home ownership rate of households under 35 has fallen to 34 percent from the recent cyclical peak of 43 percent. That’s why the first-time home buyer percentage is at its lowest point in 30 years.
Young people have it bad. Student loan debt is one reason. The burden has tripled over the past decade, with recent graduates carrying an average of $29,000. A survey we completed in mid-June found that 71 percent of graduates who are responsibly paying back their loans are delaying their home purchase by five years because of their debt.
Money doesn’t grow on trees, so free college education is probably impossible. But let’s ask why interest rates on student loans are so high, ranging from 7 to 12 percent when interest rates on other loans are extremely low? We need a way to refinance student loans into lower rates. That’s a solution we’re backing in Congress, and it’s one of the ways we can support home ownership among young buyers and start to close that wealth gap.
