Young Adults Disappearing From Home Buying Market

By Gino Blefari
President & CEO
Intero Real Estate Services, Inc.
 
There was a time when many homeowners bought their first house in their 20s. It's not hard to see that trend has changed quite a bit in markets across the country.
 
Ten years ago, the homeownership rate among young adults under age 35 was 43.6%, according to Census data. Today, the rate stands at just over 36%.
 
But while some homeownership critics have tried to say in recent years it's because young people don't value ownership as much as they do experience and freedom, the underlying economics tell a much different story.
 
It's not that America's young adults don't want to buy homes. Instead, there are a number of factors at play: fewer jobs (or jobs that pay enough to afford a home), delayed marriage, higher debt, and poor credit scores.
 
Eric Belsky, managing director of Harvard's Joint Center of Housing Studies, told a crowd at the National Association of Realtors' conference in Washington, D.C., last week, "There really are serious issues in the first-time buyer market."
 
Belsky estimates that nearly 3 million more young adults live with their parents today compared with 2007, before the Great Recession kicked into gear. This no doubt points to underlying problems with debt, the job market, and increasing housing costs in many areas.
 
The average college graduate is already carrying a large debt load as soon as he steps off campus. Student debts collectively add up to $1.1 trillion. And the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says student loan default rates climbed to nearly 12% last year (up from 6% in 2003).
 
Of course, millions of young adults are already affected by these numbers. But what happens to the housing market when first-time buyers become more and more delayed by circumstance? At some point, many markets may start to feel the missing buyers just as much. For instance, who buys the empty nesters' homes when they're ready to retire and downsize? Who do the move-up buyers sell to when they outgrow their starter homes?
 
It's an issue that eventually impacts each stage of the housing chain. We haven't seen a lot of solutions being laid out – other than a few initiatives that aim to curb student debt or give those in some professions relief.
 
We'll be watching this area closely to see what new data impact home buying and selling.

The 80:20 Rule for Weight Loss

The 80:20 Rule for Weight Loss

First, we need to get one thing straight; you can't out-train a bad diet.

Honesty is the Best Policy for Weight Loss

For most of us a diet consistently filled with unhealthy choices like too many sweets and glasses of wine on the weekend isn't going to be cancelled out or negated through exercise.

Exercise is as necessary as breathing. Through exercise, you are going to make major changes to your mind - research has shown that the benefits of exercise make you:

• Happier
• Sleep better
• Gives you more energy through the day
• Promotes strong bones
• Promotes strong muscles
• Helps you live longer
• Helps prevent cancer

What You Put In Your Mouth

So what's the 80:20 rule? 80% applies to what you eat, so for most people, 80% of their current body weight is due to what they are putting in their mouths. 20% applies to exercise, toning up our bodies, improving our state of mind and improving our sleeping patterns.

The thing is exercise often creates favorable feelings in your brain, which makes you feel more likely to want to eat healthily. Once you know that your hour hard exercise session will be cancelled out by two slices of pizza, then you can say to yourself, "Hey, I worked hard on that session, I sweated a lot and I could tell that my muscles feel the benefits so I want to keep that going with eating the foods that help and not hinder my body".

Calorie Count for Exercise

Below is a rough calorie count for certain exercises, based on a 139 pound woman. Adjust the figure accordingly based on your gender and weight.

Calories burned per half-hour of exercise:

• High-impact training - 400 calories
• Swimming - 190 calories
• Surfing - 95 calories

At best, you can eat a slice of pizza for your half-hour's exercise session, but if you want to lose weight, you need to be burning more calories than you are taking in so exercise helps to create that calorie deficit.

So challenge yourself. Make some small tweak to your diet; swap a biscuit for a piece of fruit, stop adding sugar to your coffee or add in some lean protein in the form of fish, poultry (without the skin), eggs or tofu. If you can keep that change for a week, you're on the way to making it permanent.