HomeUnion Identifies the Best Housing and Rental Markets for Millennials

IRVINE, Calif., May 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeUnion, an online real estate investment management firm, has identified the best housing and rental markets for millennials. To rank the zip codes, HomeUnion analyzed a variety of factors including zip codes with the best public schools, shortest commute times and where millennials making the metro median income can afford a for-sale home or rental. For the best places to by a home, the monthly mortgage could not exceed 28 percent of median household income. For the best places to buy a single-family rental (SFR) home, rent could not exceed 2.5 times gross income.

"Millennials recently eclipsed baby boomers as the nation's largest generation, so it is imperative that they have quality long-term housing options," explains Steve Hovland, director of research for HomeUnion. "We know that millennials would like to own a home, but we also know that they struggle to find suitable for-sale options near major employment centers due to high home prices and low inventory. Homes in metro areas like Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City, where many millennials prefer to live, are out of reach for the most of the millennial generation because of the disparity between prices and incomes. They are also burdened with high levels of student loan debt, which makes homeownership an additional challenge," he notes.

"To help millennials with their housing predicament, we created a comprehensive list of zip codes that are the most affordable with excellent public schools, and also have the shortest commute times to job centers," Hovland says.  

Methodology for the study: The study includes one zip code per market that met the criteria of affordability and schools in the 80^th percentile. Subsequently, the list is sorted by shortest average commute, rather than most affordable zip code. To determine loan qualification, a mortgage-to-gross income ratio of 28 percent was utilized in the analysis. Income was based on the median household income in the metro for those aged 25- to 34-years old. In some cases, the same zip code was deemed to be a great place to rent and buy. Average rents are for single-family homes. A rent-to-income ratio of 2.5 times was used to determine eligibility. Markets not included in the study, including those in the Bay Area, did not include a single zip code that met the study's criteria.

About HomeUnion
HomeUnion is an online real estate investment management firm. Based in Irvine, Calif., it provides all the services needed for individuals to invest remotely in rental properties. The company uses a combination of research and proprietary analytics to incorporate data on over 110 million homes and 200,000 neighborhoods into their database, and then delivers its solutions to an on-the-ground infrastructure that currently serves 11 locations. HomeUnion's role spans the lifecycle of the investment transaction: identifying sound investments, handling all aspects of acquisition, maximizing income, protecting asset value, and selling the asset when the time comes.

SOURCE HomeUnion