Here’s a sobering stat: Though 90% of the Generation Z population in the U.S. hopes to own a home someday, 62% think that will never happen.

That data comes from a survey conducted in June by the real estate platform Clever Offers, which polled 1,000 Gen Z adults between the ages of 18 and 28 on their views about buying and owning a home. The results paint a dire picture.

World War III is a more likely scenario in the next five years compared to personal homeownership, according to 21% of survey respondents. Another 18% said becoming homeless is more likely than buying a home. Around 17% of those surveyed think they have better odds of winning the lottery than owning a home, while 11% believe they have a better chance of being hit by lightning.

Advertisement

To put those odds in perspective, there’s a 1 in 292 million chance of winning the Powerball jackpot. The odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are 1 in 1.22 million, according to the National Weather Service.

Among many Gen Z members, pretty much any home would do. The Clever survey found that 58% of respondents would still buy a home if it had no central heating or air conditioning; 47% would purchase a home containing asbestos; 46% wouldn’t mind too much if it had a leaky roof or foundation issues; and about 40% would still move forward with a home purchase if an inspection uncovered pests or termites.

Nor do high mortgage rates seem to be much of a deterrent for Gen Z. While 28% of respondents said high rates are a barrier to buying a home, 56% said they would accept an interest rate over 7% if it meant securing homeownership, and another 24% said they would still buy a home with a rate exceeding 10%.

Other enlightening survey stats include:

• 97% of Gen Z say they face barriers to homeownership
• 46% say they struggle to pay the rent every month
• 36% say they would consider marrying someone just to afford a home
• 30% have thought about squatting or living in their car out of desperation

Among respondents who think they’ll never own a home, 82% said it’s because they can’t afford it — a sharp increase from the 57% who responded that way in 2024. About half of Gen Zers said high home prices are restricting their ability to purchase, while 75% said the rising cost of living has made saving for a downpayment impossible.

A growing debt bubble

While 35% of respondents to the Clever Offers poll said they would consider skipping other debt payments to afford a home, that isn’t an option for those who can’t scrape together enough cash for a downpayment. The survey also found that 34% of Gen Z members have more debt than savings.

Those debt concerns aren’t restricted to Gen Z, according to a separate survey released this week by the online personal finance company Achieve, which found that 58% of respondents rate their current financial situation as either “poor” or “fair.”

The Achieve study also noted that 55% of people reported using credit cards to cover essential expenses, with 26% of those respondents carrying that debt for six months or longer. Additionally, 35% said they’ve faced difficulty making their debt payments on time, and 37% said it would take them more than a year to pay off all their short-term debt.

“Many American households are facing a fundamental income-expense mismatch, which is leading them to rely on debt to get by,” Achieve Co-CEO Brad Stroh said in a press release. “This isn’t just a numbers game; it’s a profound moment where people are losing confidence in their ability to stay afloat and manage their household finances.”

Total U.S. household debt reached $18.39 trillion in the second quarter of 2025, a quarterly increase of $185 billion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data. Mortgage balances grew by $131 billion during the quarter and auto loan balances rose by $13 billion. Credit card balances increased by $27 billion and ended the second quarter at $1.21 trillion outstanding — a 5.87% year over year increase.