February 27th, 2019

Millennials may finally be coming to the housing market’s rescue. Two years ago, Millennials passed Gen X as the new leader in new mortgage originations. The end of last year saw Millennials holding 45% of all new mortgage, 9% higher than Gen X. Furthermore, they also took the top spot on another front: the total dollar volume of mortgages, showing that they currently are more willing to take on larger mortgages than other generations. This is due to older Millennials having stable, well-paying jobs and gaining purchasing power. However, they are still flocking to more affordable areas to look for homes. Last year, the median-priced home for millennials was $238,000, higher than Gen X but less than Baby Boomers. Millennials are also much more prone to putting less down on home purchases than other generations typically have.

So what does all this mean? Millennials are the talk of the industry, and loan officers need to adjust their ways they sell and communicate to them. Technology, ease, and efficiency need to be at the forefront of each transaction, along with taking a position of advisor over “mortgage person”. A loan officer’s focus should be on education, simplification, and advocacy. They also need to adjust their marketing tactics to include more Millennial-targeted campaigns, high use of social media, and a refresh of personal branding.