Millennial Says Boomers Are Not To Blame For Housing Prices — 'What's Keeping The Prices High Is Us'
One millennial is arguing that their own generation is responsible for the high cost of houses.
Juice Flair / Shutterstock While inflation is cooling in the US, the housing market shows no sign of lowering its prices. Bankrate reported that the average 30-year mortgage rate is currently at 6.93%.
There is a lot of blame going around regarding who is responsible for these high home prices. It’s common for younger generations to blame boomers, or baby boomers, for overvaluing their homes. But one millennial called out their own generation.
A millennial claimed that their generation is responsible for high housing prices.
In an anonymous Reddit post, a person who identified themself as a millennial stated that fellow millennials and other “new homeowners” are to blame for housing costs.
They do contend that some responsibility belongs to boomers for expecting millennials to pay such outrageous prices.
“It’s funny to see my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and extended family, who had average jobs (teacher, machinist, salon or even corporate roles) think that their duplex house on a half acre is worth 500K-1M or more,” they said. “Yet they are acutely aware they would never be able to afford a house like that on their current or former salary.”
However, for the most part, this person argued that the blame rests squarely on millennials’ shoulders. “How did this happen?” they asked. “It’s us. We are agreeing to pay these dumb prices.”
They theorized that there are several different factors that could be causing this issue. One is millennials’ familiarity with “taking out impossible loans to pay back,” something that comes from notorious student loans. Another possibility is “quick home appreciations during the ‘08 bubble.” “Or,” they added, “maybe this is the first time we’re seeing generational wealth being accumulated and passed down from boomers.”
The millennial had some interesting suggestions for reversing the problems in the housing market.
The person had some striking ideas for finding a solution to the problem. “If millennials and new homeowners collectively withheld their desire to take out that meaty mortgage, prices would drop,” they said. “So we have to toughen up and find more creative ways to find shelter and save for retirement.”
Their thoughts on how to do this raised a few eyebrows. “This may mean staying with parents, [finding a] super cheap… rental, or even sleeping in [the] car,” they wrote.
Ultimately, they said, “Reality check is we have to stop paying the dumb prices by being creative with shelter. And maybe we can get prices to come down … for the next generation.”
Commenters were not happy with the person’s suggestions.
Fellow Redditors who commented on the post were incredulous. “So what [am I] supposed to do? Be homeless?” asked one. That certainly seemed to be their suggestion.
Another person chimed in and said, “Ah, so it’s the millennials’ faults for buying shelter, and not the boomers for price [gouging] us. I suppose you think the price of healthcare is consumers’ fault for not just dying instead?”
“Dude, it’s not us,” one person insisted emphatically.
The generational blame game only distracts from a real solution.
It certainly does seem strange to suggest that people live in their cars rather than buy homes in the hopes that prices will go down. While a possible argument could be made for refusing to buy homes at such high prices, one must also take into account the fact that shelter is a basic necessity.
Regardless, one thing that seems to have even more staying power than high home prices is the ongoing feud and blame game between millennials and boomers. Unfortunately, that blame does nothing but distract from the fact that the true problem is a lack of affordable housing.
Whether that has to do with zoning and state regulations, developer incentives, or simply real estate greed, that's for economists to debate. Instead of battling to be "right" perhaps boomers and millennials should join forces so true change can happen that benefits everyone.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.