Phew! Millennials are snapping up homes like you wouldn’t believe

First-time buyers comprised 38% of single-family home purchases in 2017

(Credit: Getty Images)
(Credit: Getty Images)

Calm down, realtors: unlike landlines, napkins and video stores, it looks like buying homes will not die out with the millennial generation.

First-time buyers comprised 38 percent of single-family home purchases last year, their biggest share in the market since 2000, according to Bloomberg. They bought 2.07 million new homes in total, a 7 percent jump from 2016, and a big reason for this is that the oldest members of the millennial generation have started looking for houses as they exchange student loan debt for marriages and children.

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The rate of homeownership for Americans younger than 35 rose to 36 percent in the fourth quarter, a number that has not been higher since the beginning of 2014, according to census data. [Bloomberg]Eddie Small