Millennials think parents should be paying their rent

Faced with years of skyrocketing housing and renting prices, 50 percent of millennials think their parents should help them pay rent while they save money toward the eventual purchase of a home, a recent exclusive poll for Newsweek found.

The poll, conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies between February 18-19 among a pool of 1,500 eligible voters in the U.S., found that, across all generations, 43 percent of respondents believed that parents who can afford to help should assist children with covering rental costs.

Millennials—those born between 1981-1996—were by far the generation with the highest rate of respondents saying parents should help shoulder the cost of adult children’s rent, with 50 percent saying they should so if they can afford to help. Gen Zers—those born between 1997-2012—followed with 49 percent; Gen Xers—those born between 1965-1980—with 37 percent and baby boomers and the Silent Generation—those born respectively between 1946-1964 and between 1928-1945—with 40 percent.

Just 30 percent of millennials said that parents shouldn’t help their adult children pay rent, compared to 32 percent of Gen Zers, 39 percent of Gen Xers and 36 percent of boomers.

The poll’s results could play into the widely shared, mocking narrative that millennials are financially irresponsible and lazy.

But an overwhelming majority of respondents, 69 percent, across all generations agreed that it is harder for young people to buy a home now than it was for their parents’ generation—and numbers back up that belief.

In the last quarter of 2023, the average sales price of houses sold in the country was $492,300, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Thirty years prior, in the last quarter of 1993, the average sales price was $148,300—more than three times lower. Going back another decade to the last quarter of 1983, prices go down to $90,800.

The unaffordability of the housing market, which also boomed during the pandemic years, has forced many millennials to delay the process of buying a home and forming a family—not only dramatically changing the idea they have of what adult life should be like, but also forcing them to rent for longer periods of time.

As home prices have skyrocketed, rent prices have also climbed, making it difficult for millennials to put away enough savings to purchase a home.

According to recent research by Real Estate Witch, between 1985-2023 rent prices surged by 208 percent—going from an average of $378 a month to $1,163 a month.

According to Rent.com, the median price of an apartment in February 2024 was $1,981, up 0.87 percent month-over-month and up 21 percent compared to pre-pandemic times in March 2019.

Those housing costs could play a large role in a majority, 57 percent of respondents to the Newsweek/Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll across all generations, thinking that parents should help their adult children with funding for their first home if they can afford to offer aid.

Sixty-one percent of boomers agreed with this statement, followed by 56 percent of millennials, 56 percent of Gen Zers and 55 percent of Gen Xers. Fifty-one percent of respondents across all generations said that they think that parents should contribute about 25 percent of the deposit towards their children’s first home.

As of February 29, the average price of a home in the U.S. was $347,716, according to Zillow, up 3.6 percent over just the year before.

Phil Powell, executive director of Indiana University’s Business Research Center, previously told Newsweek that millennial households either have to allocate more money to savings or reduce their expectations.

“It’s the brutal reality of supply and demand,” he said. “Millennials are saddled with higher real costs of college than their parents and with higher housing costs. It’s going to continue to be bad for several years.”

If you are a millennial and your parents are helping you pay rent while you save up to buy a house, first of all good luck. Second, please get in touch and tell us your experience by emailing [email protected].