Millennial homeownership in the Philly area almost doubled in 5 years, outpacing every other major Northeastern metro
Compared to many other markets, the Philadelphia region has lower home prices, stronger job opportunities, good wage growth, and a good supply of starter homes.
The Philadelphia region became a homebuying hot spot for millennials in recent years.
The number of millennial households that own their homes in the Philadelphia area almost doubled between 2018 and 2023, outpacing the generation’s homeownership growth in every other major metropolitan area in the Northeast, according to an analysis by RentCafe.
In that five-year period, homeownership among Philadelphia-area millennial households jumped roughly 92%, from about 201,000 to about 386,000, according to the nationwide apartment search website.
That’s higher growth than the 74% increase nationally. In RentCafe’s analysis of 107 metro areas with the biggest populations of millennial households, the Philadelphia region ranked 17th for its jump in millennial homeownership. And among metros with at least 100,000 millennial households in 2023, it ranked seventh.
“Philadelphia stands out because it’s unique in the Northeast,” said Doug Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, RentCafe’s sister company.
He points to the Philadelphia area’s combination of positive characteristics. Compared to many other markets, the region has lower home prices, stronger job opportunities, and good wage growth, Ressler said.
It also has a good supply of starter homes, which he called “key.” Rowhouses in particular “provide an entry point for homeowners at a price you can’t find anywhere else,” he said.
Coastal areas are popular among millennials — people born from 1981 to 1996. But “millennials in many coastal markets remain locked out of homeownership,” Ressler said. The Philadelphia region’s relative affordability gives renters a chance to become homeowners.
RentCafe’s report specifically points to the area’s older housing stock and availability of homebuyer assistance programs to further explain why millennials can buy homes in the Philadelphia region.
Also, the generation’s income growth has outpaced the growth of home prices. Between 2018 and 2023, area millennials’ incomes increased by roughly 38%, while home prices increased by 18.5%, according to the RentCafe analysis.
Roughly 56% of Philadelphia-area millennial households were homeowners in 2023. More millennials owned homes than rented them in 83 of the 107 metro areas RentCafe analyzed.
While millennial homeownership in the area increased by about 92% between 2018 and 2023, the number of millennial renter households increased by just 2.4% — below the roughly 5% increase nationwide.
Where millennials are buying homes nationwide
Small and mid-sized metro areas have seen the highest concentrations of millennial homeowners, thanks to more affordable home prices. In the Lancaster area, roughly 63% of millennials owned homes in 2023.
In the Grand Rapids, Mich., area and two metros in Utah — Ogden and Provo — more than two-thirds of millennial households owned their homes.
From 2018 to 2023, small and mid-sized metros in Florida and California had the highest increases in millennial homeowners. They’re all places with more affordable home prices and strong income growth. And they attracted millennials during the pandemic who moved away from denser and more expensive major cities.
The number of homeowner millennial households more than doubled in 12 of the 107 metro areas RentCafe analyzed.
The nearest of these to the Philadelphia area is Youngstown in northeastern Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border. The number of millennial households that own homes increased from about 15,900 in 2018 to about 32,400 in 2023.
Three Florida metro areas topped RentCafe’s list for highest rates of millennial homeownership growth: North Port, Lakeland, and Jacksonville. The North Port area has ranked among the country’s fastest-growing metros overall.
