In today’s real estate market, homeownership has become more and more difficult for millennials to obtain. However, one subdemographic that may have a leg up? Millennial veterans.
With many having access to VA loans, there's a large block of potential millennial buyers that are qualified to purchase a home with no down payment, mortgage insurance or great credit.
For these reasons, millennial veterans are some of the most successful homebuyers on the market today. It's also why Veterans United Home Loans—the nation's largest VA lender—compiled a list of the top 30 cities for young veterans, as well as active service members.
"The lingering question in housing circles has been when will millennials enter the home-buying market," Chris Birk, director of Education at Veterans United Home Loans, tells Housecall. "The fact is millennial veterans aren't standing on the sidelines."
To create the list, the company compared purchase loan volume numbers for millennials from last year to the same data for that group from 2015. Cities are ranked by their percentage increase in VA purchase loan volume.
Military density is higher in Florida, Georgia and Texas than in most states as a result of more installations and higher veteran populations, which accounts for the large number of cities that made the list from those states.
Additionally, Veterans United Home Loans only considered cities that had at least 75 millennial purchase loans in 2015 and 2018; and the company defines these millennials as any veterans or active service members that were born between 1981 and 1996.
Here are the top 30 cities for millennial veteran homebuyers:
| Jacksonville, Fla. Metro Area VA Purchase Loan Growth (Percentage): | 228.80 | |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. | 144.80 | |
| San Antonio, Texas Metro Area | 135.50 | |
| New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa. Metro Area | 129.50 | |
| Hinesville-Fort Stewart, Ga. Metro Area | 116.90 | |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla. Metro Area | 107.60 | |
| Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C. Metro Area | 107.30 | |
| Fayetteville, N.C. Metro Area | 103.70 | |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metro Area | 102.30 | |
| Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. Metro Area | 101.90 | |
| Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas Metro Area | 100.00 | |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. Metro Area | 93.80 | |
| St. Louis, MO-Ill. Metro Area | 81.30 | |
| Oklahoma City, Okla. Metro Area | 79.80 | |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas Metro Area | 77.50 | |
| Baltimore-Towson, Md. Metro Area | 73.10 | |
| Savannah, Ga. Metro Area | 68.00 | |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. Metro Area | 66.20 | |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. Metro Area | 61.80 | |
| San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. Metro Area | 61.40 | |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metro Area | 59.10 | |
| Denver-Aurora, Colo. Metro Area | 58.80 | |
| Jacksonville, N.C. Metro Area | 56.50 | |
| Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas Metro Area | 54.80 | |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. Metro Area | 54.10 | |
| Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. Metro Area | 42.60 | |
| Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa Metro Area | 41.00 | |
| Clarksville, Tenn.-Ky. Metro Area | 32.20 | |
| Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. Metro Area | 26.50 | |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. Metro Area | 24.40 |
To view all of Veteran United Home Loans' key findings and for a full breakdown of their methodology, click here.
Nancy M. Alexander - Stone Harbor and Avalon NJ Real Estate NancyAlexander.com
