Report: Almost 6 percent of Atlanta millennial renters doomed to rent forever

Homeownership seems to be an impossibility for many American millennials, according to a new report by online rental marketplace Apartment List.

Almost 6 percent of millennials renting in Atlanta, for example, can “expect to rent forever,” the study says.

Additionally, of those who expect to buy a home one day, 48 percent haven’t yet begun saving for a down payment. (This year, the annual study defined millennials as people between the ages of 23 and 38, and more than 10,000 of them responded to surveys.)

“At current savings rates, just 24 percent of Atlanta’s millennial renters will be ready to put down 10 percent on a median-priced starter home in the next five years,” per the report.

Last year, millennials who asked for family help with their down payments could expect an average of $10,000.

This year, though, they can look forward to just $9,000 in support from the fam.

And it’s no surprise that, for many millennials, buying a home would be way more feasible if they weren’t saddled with student loan debt.

“If debt payments were instead put towards savings, we estimate the percentage of Atlanta’s millennials renters ready to buy a home would rise from 24 percent to 39 percent,” according to Apartment List.

In part because of student loan debt, 70 percent of renters claim housing affordability has kept them—and could forever keep them—from buying a home.

Nationwide, though, the problem might be worse: More than 12 percent of millennial renters surveyed say they plan to rent forever—up from about 11 percent a year ago.

And in San Jose, more than 18 percent of millennial renters anticipate the same fate.