Looking for creative ways to purchase a home amid high prices and rates, buyers are considering the "The Golden Girls" approach. Currently, about 3% of buyers in the housing market are co-buying with someone other than their spouse or significant other, and that share rises to 5% among first-time buyers, the National Association of Realtors notes.
According to a new survey from LendingTree, an eye-opening 29% of Americans are open to the idea. Of those potential homebuyers, 63% said they would consider buying with a family member who is not their spouse, and 57% would do so with a good friend or current roommate.
“That’s quite a lot of people, and I’m not surprised that people are considering it,” says Jacob Channel, senior economist for LendingTree. “It speaks to where we are in the housing market: It’s really expensive to buy a house right now, and a lot of people are looking into alternative ways to purchase.”
Indeed, consider these figures: The median price for existing homes in June was $410,200, near an all-time high, according to the National Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has risen to over 7%, following a series of rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
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