I went through Zillow’s consumer housing trends report 2018 and pulled out some of the most interesting data points broken down by renters, buyers, sellers, and homeowners.
Renters
- Seventy-eight percent of renters who move from one rental to another experience a rent increase prior to their move
- Forty-seven percent of renters call the suburbs home while 40 percent live in an urban area and 13 percent live in a rural area
Buyers
- Millennials, those between the ages of 24 and 38, comprise 42 percent of the nation’s home buyers
- Just over half (52 percent) of buyers put down less than 20 percent on their home.
Sellers
- At 31 percent, Millennials — those ages 24 to 38 — are the largest group of sellers.
- The vast majority (85 percent) of sellers work with agents
Homeowners
- Home equity remains the biggest financial asset for the typical American homeowner, who has 52 percent of their wealth tied up there.
- Nearly half (45 percent) of homeowners still live in the first home they purchased
Below are some of the most notable charts.
60% of first-time home buyers put down less than 20%.

67% of first-time buyers and 50% of repeat buyers had to make sacrifices. Assuming you have some sort of fixed budget, you’re not going to get everything you want.
23% of buyers went over budget by an average of 12%.
This one surprised me. The largest group of home sellers are millennials, which made up 31% of all sales in 2018.
Some other nuggets
- The typical renter can expect to spend about 29 percent of their household income on rent
- 36% of Millennials and 26% of Gen Xers try to sell without the help of an agent.
- Six in 10 (59 percent) homeowners are still paying off their mortgage, and the typical mortgaged homeowner owes 62 percent of their home’s value
This was a huge report, hit the link below for more.