Millennials, Californians High on Housing

The latest Zillow Housing Confidence Index (ZHCI) reveals that homeowner expectations are higher than they were two years ago in the majority of metro areas tracked, and nowhere are they higher now than in The Golden State.

The ZHCI homeowner expectations sub-indexes for Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose are now 77.5, 77.3, and 77.1, respectively (the index uses a scale of 0-100; a reading above 50 indicates positive expectations). These are the highest levels for this sub-index among all 20 metro areas tracked.

These housing confidence indicators are driven, in part, by long-term expectations for local home values (the expectations data are compiled from The U.S. Housing Confidence Survey, and reflected in ZHCI). The below chart reveals that when it comes to housing expectations, “generation, generation, generation” is at least as important as “location, location, location.”

Source: The U.S. Housing Confidence Survey, Pulsenomics LLC.

In January, across all 20 metro areas surveyed (10,000 total respondents), 65 percent of all (3,089) millennial-led households said that owning a home is necessary to live The Good Life and The American Dream, more than any other generation (87 percent of millennial-led Los Angeles households said so).