Is owning a home still the American Dream?

Older San Diegans are most likely to associate owning a home with the American dream, but younger generations do not, a Zillow study shows.

Roughly 68 percent of San Diego residents over 65 years old think homeownership is needed to achieve the American dream, the study said. Baby boomers (50 to 64 years old) and millennials (18 to 34 years old) were less likely to agree at 54 percent.

Generation X (35 to 49 years old) put more emphasis on owning a home, with 58 percent saying it was needed to gain wealth.

The study, released last week, is the result of a semi-annual U.S. Housing Confidence Survey from Zillow and Pulsenomics that asks 10,000 renters and homeowners from 20 metro areas their views on homeownership.

Possibly because of low home inventory, San Diego’s results were different from much of the nation.

For instance, nationwide results show millennials put the most emphasis, 65 percent, of any generation on homeownership as way to achieve wealth — even more than the oldest Americans.

Yet, in San Diego, millennials are more than 11 percent less likely than the national average to associate homeownership with the American dream. The study also notes a lack of confidence among millennials in their ability to buy a home. Just 2 percent of San Diego millennials said they expected to buy a home in the next year.

Mark Goldman, a loan officer and real estate lecturer at San Diego State University, said local millennials are likely influenced by high home prices.

“Housing is much more expensive here than it is in so many other markets across America,” he said. “You do see lower homeownership participation rates when you have high-cost housing.”

The study also broke down homeownership views by race.

African-American San Diegans put the most emphasis on home ownership at 58.3 percent, followed by Latinos at 57.6 percent, whites at 57.2 percent and Asians at 54.8 percent.

Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell said in a news release that the study shows millennials and people of color will be serious home buyers in the future.

“It’s often assumed that homeownership holds little interest for these groups, or that they may feel the challenges in achieving home ownership aren’t worth the benefits,” she said. “But that’s simply not true, and their optimism and determination today will be hugely important to the stability and growth of the housing market tomorrow.”

The median home price in San Diego County reached $462,750 in January and predictions for this year say price appreciation will slow. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, predicted national home prices would rise 4.6 percent this year.

By Phillip Molnar San Diego Union Tribune