5 Cities Where Millenials Might Have a Better Chance of Buying a Home: Report

Despite National Woes, Bay Area Housing Prices Hit New Highs
A real estate agent views a home for sale with a list price over $2 million during a brokers tour May 17, 2007 in Kentfield, California. The San Francisco Bay Area has seen the median price for existing single family homes surge 6.6% to $720,000 while the national median home price dropped 0.9% to $215,300 in March. Marin County led the Bay Area surge with the median home price reaching a record high of $1,010,000, the first county in the state of California to surpass the million dollar mark. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The current housing market is tight, with a lack of available properties for purchase as baby boomers hold onto their homes, boxing out hopeful millennial homebuyers.

At least 78% of baby boomers said they have no plans of downsizing and selling their homes as they grow older due to today's elevated mortgage rates. Additionally, 28% of three-bedroom-plus homes in the US are owned by empty-nest baby boomers. This has led to a lack of housing supply in the market, making it harder for millennials to buy affordable homes.

However, there are some real estate marketplaces in the country where most homeowners are likely to sell their homes, per new research from real-estate marketplace Zillow. For the study, the firm identified 10.8 million homeowners who no longer had mortgages but could "comfortably afford" a new home at current rates, labeling them as the households best positions to move and sell their current home.

In addition, Zillow also identified households that were free from "rate lock-in." Across generations, 17% of baby boomers (aged 60 to 78) and 14% of the Silent Generation (aged 79 to 96) had the highest percentage of homeowners "free of rate lock-in."

With that in mind, here are the five cities Zillow said had the most number of homeowners primed to move and list their homes for sale.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania

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Percentage of homeowners free of rate-lock: 27%

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free: 341,063

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free and mortgage-ready: 188,486

Buffalo, New York

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People take pictures with the Manhattan Bridge in New York on November 30, 2023. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Percentage of homeowners free of rate-lock: 23%

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free: 160,048

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free and mortgage-ready: 76,078

Cleveland, Ohio

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Percentage of homeowners free of rate-lock: 22%

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free: 241,587

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free and mortgage-ready: 123,707

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

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Percentage of homeowners free of rate-lock: 21%

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free: 143,428

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free and mortgage-ready: 70,763

Detroit, Michigan

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Percentage of homeowners free of rate-lock: 20%

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free: 524,087

Number of homeowners who are mortgage-free and mortgage-ready: 239,813

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