Homes are so expensive in the US that 38% of young buyers say they were only able to break into the market with help from their family

• A Redfin survey found 38% of under-30 homebuyers relied on financial help from family to afford a down payment.
• That came in the form of a cash gift or an inheritance, the survey said.

The unaffordable housing market is uniquely challenging to younger Americans who have smaller incomes and nest eggs.

A spring Redfin survey found that 38% of buyers under 30 relied on family to help afford a down payment, in the form of either a cash gift or inheritance. In a Forbes column, Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said first-time homeownership has become so expensive that it's excluding young people who lack family money.

"As a result, a large share of young homeowners can be labeled 'nepo-homebuyers,' meaning they received family money to purchase a home," she wrote. "This phenomenon contributes to intergenerational wealth inequality and limits economic opportunities for young people and their families."

In the survey, 509 respondents were under 30, and among that cohort, 23% used a cash gift from family, and 21% used inheritance money.

To be sure, people under 30 typically don't buy homes and are more likely to need help as they are still relatively early in their careers and may not be able to combine incomes with a spouse yet.

Data from the National Association of Realtors shows that the average age for first-time homebuyers was 36 in 2022, up from 33 in 2021.

And the national average for marriage age — often considered a time for entering the housing market — was 30 for women and 32 for men in 2022, according to a wedding study earlier this year from The Knot.

Still, it doesn't help that starter homes in particular are becoming more and more expensive, and prices have climbed 13% in the last year alone, Fairweather said. In June, the median sale price for a typical starter home reached an all-time high of $243,000.

Meanwhile, the housing inventory shortage continues to persist, mortgage rates still hover near 7%, and current homeowners who secured lower rates before are unwilling to move in the current market, exacerbating the lack of affordability.

Fairweather also pointed to a 2021 Redfin survey that found that 79% of homeowners had a parent who owned their home, and 67% had a grandparent who owned a home.

"Many young people buying homes today had grandparents who bought homes before the Fair Housing Act was passed, when it was still legal to discriminate against homebuyers on the basis of race, religion, national origin, disability status, or family status," she added. "And since homeownership persists across generations, the inequities of the past live on."