The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance’s 6th Annual Report reveals the impact of discrimination in the workplace and housing on Gen Z’s economic future.
Although Gen Z is only a small portion of the housing market today, accounting for just 4% of home sales by 2025, real estate industry leaders are already recognizing this generation as the next tastemakers. However, there is a gulf between straight and LGBTQ+ Generation Z, with the latter group’s homeownership and wealth trajectory at risk due to lack of family support and discrimination.
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The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance’s sixth annual survey found that 28.8 percent of respondents expect LGBTQ+ Generation Z to purchase their first home by age 39. This is about the same as the median age of all first-time home buyers. This response reflects waning sentiment toward homeownership among LGBTQ+ respondents, with only 16.8% saying homeownership is still part of the American dream.
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“There has been much discussion about the wealth disparities that exist in our country and the potential lack of access to homeownership. With the number of young people who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community growing to nearly 25 percent of the entire Gen Z population, we wanted to explore how this group fares in the future,” said Tommy Wehr, president of the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, in an official statement. “Our report reveals that LGBTQ+ Generation Z adults are more likely to be left behind in the workforce, including gaining wealth, achieving financial security, and entering homeownership.”
When the alliance asked straight and LGBTQ+ respondents what the American Dream meant to them, straight respondents ranked homeownership at the top of the list, followed by financial independence, marriage, a stable career, the freedom to pursue personal passions, and living in a safe community.
However, LGBTQ+ respondents put homeownership last, prioritizing a safe community, financial independence, freedom to pursue personal passions, marriage, and equal access to career opportunities before becoming home buyers.
The rankings reflect growing concerns about LGBTQ+ rights, as community members highlight a growing trend of anti-LGBTQ+ laws that primarily target transgender and gender-expansive (TGX) individuals. More than half of respondents said straight Gen Zers have a career advantage, and 68.1% said straight professionals would reach senior leadership positions before their LGBTQ+ colleagues. Additionally, 66.1% said straight professionals are more likely to receive any type of promotion first.
Discrimination in the workplace and housing puts LGBTQ+ Gen Z in a potentially dire path, with nearly half of respondents expecting to have less wealth (56.6%) and less long-term financial stability (49.1%) than straight people in 20 years.
Wehrle said the findings “should be relevant to everyone involved in housing, real estate sales and public policy.”
“There are approximately 70 million people in Generation Z, and approximately 16 million of them identify as LGBTQ+. We cannot afford to leave this many people behind,” she added. “Today’s policies by this administration and statehouses across the country that attack our communities will have serious consequences in the future unless we correct course.”
Read the full report below.
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