Study: Millennials even selling cryptocurrency to buy homes

Industry observers have blamed millennials for killing, at various points: Applebee's, napkins, straws, dating, marriage, cursive and of course, the concept of a starter home.
But a new Redfin survey suggests that millennials are trying to buy homes, and they're sacrificing their money, work-life balance and even their cryptocurrency to do it.
According to the study, which focuses on 500 millennials planning to buy a home within the next year, 50 percent of young people list the cost of a down payment as their top concern with homeownership.
Large chunks of the respondents were also concerned about affording homes in areas they want to live (45 percent), rising home prices (41 percent), rising mortgage rates and the ability to secure a loan (both 34 percent).
While the conventional wisdom is that millennials prefer to rent, some research is showing a shift in demand. Fannie Mae, for example, broke millennials into several different age cohorts and tracked the percentage of homeownership from the end of the recession through 2016. In every cohort, especially for those aging from 28 to 31, ownership shot up from 2014 to 2016.
"There's a lot of demand, but not as much as last year," says Jon Whitely, a Redfin spokesman. "For millennials and all home buyers, they're in a position to purchase a home but can't necessarily afford it."
While the 20 percent down payment is still standard, that 20 percent constitutes a bigger dollar amount as housing prices appreciate in large markets.
According to the study, while 69 percent of millennial home buyers saved directly from their paychecks to make a down payment on their first home, 36 percent took on a second job, 13 percent pulled from retirement funds and, in a sign of the times, 10 percent sold cryptocurrency.
The housing market is also competitive. So-called starter homes often get snapped up by investors looking to rent properties, and people are holding onto their homes for longer, Whitely says. So when affordable homes go on the market, they don't stay long.
And when they get stuck paying rent, prospective first-time buyers have a harder time saving up to pay their down payments.
"It's a vicious cycle," Whitely says.
This generation of young people must bear a financial burden that few others have had to face, as well: student debt.
"The biggest challenges millennials face as opposed to their predecessor generations is student debt and how that impacts their creditworthiness," says Lisa Neergaard, a senior policy manager at Building Community Workshop , a Texas-based urban design, housing and planning nonprofit.
So even though mortgage rates are much lower than in previous generations, it can be more difficult for first-time buyers to attain loans because of credit ratings bruised by the recession and student debt.
One solution is greater financial education for young people — both to help secure mortgages and loans and to avoid the pitfalls of indebtedness.
"Along with proper home-buyer education, financial education is something we should be doing right out of high school," says Thor Erickson, managing director of the workshop.
Although millennial demand for housing is increasing by some metrics, not every young person wants to buy a standard home.
Whether this means condos, town homes or cottages, first-time buyers would benefit from the ownership of smaller properties that don't require the same upfront investment as a single family home, Neergaard says. And while Federal Housing Association loans and CRA home loans can increase access to lower-income home buyers, they're not designed to serve the needs of every buyer.
Greater variety in the market is a more permanent solution, Erickson says.
"There's not enough unit types to really serve the needs of where people are at," he said.