The State of the Housing Market Has Forced Millennials to Get Creative

Perhaps we’ve ordered too many pieces of avocado toast, but my fellow millennials now represent the largest generation living with non-relatives. In Zillow’s recent housing market report, 8.1 million families were “doubling up” and sharing homes with people they’re not related to in 2023. Millennials accounted for 38% of that 8.1 million, followed by Gen Z at 29%, Gen X at 17%, and baby boomers and older generations at 16%. 

“So many millennials doubling up is likely primarily due to affordability challenges since these families are often on the lower end of the income distribution,” says Orphe Divounguy, Zillow’s senior economist who led this research. “Younger generations are more likely to still live with parents, while older generations are more likely to live in their own unit. These older generations were more likely to have bought their own unit when it was still more affordable to do so.”

Divounguy couldn’t speak to the relationship between these cohabitants (friends, random roommates, etc.), adding that they only received basic demographic characteristics such as age. 

In the same report, Zillow included that the country’s housing deficit jumped to a staggering, record-high 4.7 million in 2023—and the company is advocating for laws that make housing more affordable. For instance, California’s Assembly Bill 1033 went into effect in January 2024 and lets homeowners split up their property and sell ADUs like condos. 

“The unfortunate fact is that we still don’t have enough housing in this country for people who need it. Construction has helped prevent the housing deficit from ballooning, but it hasn’t yet begun to close the gap,” Divounguy said in Zillow’s statement. “We know what works: lower building restraints to allow for more density and less expensive housing. More of these measures at the local level can help get more homes built and begin to ease this outsize financial burden for millions of Americans.”