Redfin Says Millennials Face Higher Mortgage Payments Than Boomers After 18.6% Rate Era
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 12
Redfin Says Millennials Face Higher Mortgage Payments Than Boomers After 18.6% Rate Era
1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 12
Summary
Redfin found millennials entered adulthood with stronger homebuying math than boomers, but post-pandemic price and rate spikes left older millennials in their late 30s facing higher mortgage payments at the same age.
The analysis compared hypothetical payments on a median-priced home by age rather than by calendar year, showing low rates once favored millennials before the pandemic reversed that advantage.
Boomers often bought when mortgage rates were far higher—peaking at 18.6% in the early 1980s—but home prices relative to income were much lower and many later refinanced as rates fell.
Millennials also face pressures the model only partly captures, including scarcer starter homes, higher child-care costs in two-income households and heavier student debt.
Gen X was often already locked into low-rate mortgages before the spike, while most Gen Z households had little chance to buy before payments surged.