Gen-X Hurt By Housing Downturn, Baby Boomers Still Sitting Pretty

While the housing downturn has sent home prices into a downward spiral a recent study shows that while Gen X buyers have been suffering their baby boomer parents have made out far better.

The study found that many 30-year-old Gen-Xers who purchased their homes in 2006 for an average price of $250,000 are now faced with a home value that has dropped by one-third of it’s valuation in today’s dollars. In comparison a baby boomer who purchased their home in 1991 for $100,000 still have homes valued at a median average of $170,000.

According to the NPR the disparity in home values have left already typically more wealthy older American’s with a 47:1 wealth gap (2009 numbers) compared to the 10:1 metric reported in 1984.

According to a Pew Research Study:

People generally accumulate wealth as they age, so it is not unusual to find large age-based gaps on this measure. However, the current gap is unprecedented. In 1984, the age-based wealth gap had been 10:1. By 2009, it had ballooned to 47:1.”

If home prices begin to increase over the long term Gen X buyers who purchase at today’s prices will likely fair better than their friends and family who purchased a home directly before the bubble burst.

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