Business Insider新播客“Well Spent”探讨了千禧一代的购房现状。Zillow专家Amanda Pendleton指出，在当前市场环境下，购房者平均需要居住7-9年才能使拥有房产比租房更划算，而在旧金山或纽约等高成本城市，这一年限更是长达15-20年。这与过去2-3年的经验法则大相径庭。高房价、高利率、缓慢的房价增长以及股票市场的吸引力，都改变了购房与租房的经济账。 Pendleton还提到，租房正被越来越多的人视为一种合理的财务和生活方式选择，而非仅仅是通往拥有房产的过渡阶段。文章还分析了2025年创纪录的房价以及可能影响市场的“银发海啸”效应，并提供了一些购房相对有利的地区信息，同时建议购房者优先比较抵押贷款利率。

🏠 当前房地产市场变化显著，购房者需要更长的居住时间才能使拥有房产优于租房。Zillow专家Amanda Pendleton指出，平均而言，购房者需要居住7-9年才能实现这一目标，而在旧金山和纽约等高成本地区，这一年限可能高达15-20年。这反映了高房价、高利率以及房价增值放缓等多重因素的影响。

💰 购房与租房的经济考量发生了根本性转变。过去被视为短期过渡的租房，现在正被越来越多的人视为一种长期的、合理的财务和生活方式选择。这得益于租房市场的成熟以及购房门槛的提高，使得人们在权衡成本和收益时，对租房的接受度更高。

📈 尽管整体市场面临挑战，但仍存在一些购房机会。文章提到，一些地区可能更适合购房，并且相比于2022年和2023年，2025年的购房者可能会发现市场环境略有改善。此外，对于千禧一代而言，所谓的“银发海啸”（即大量婴儿潮一代出售房产）可能并不会迅速释放大量房源，市场变化将更为缓慢。

💡 在购房决策前，消费者应优先进行充分的市场调研和利率比较。Amanda Pendleton建议，购房者在浏览Zillow等房产平台之前，应花费更多时间研究和比较不同的抵押贷款利率，以确保获得最优惠的贷款条件，从而优化购房成本。

On the Well Spent podcast, we talk to Zillow's Amanda Pendleton all about how millennials are buying homes now.Pendleton reveals that in today's market, you'd have to live in a house for 7 to 9 years to make it worth owning instead of renting.For expensive cities like San Francisco or New York, it's more like 15 to 20 years. YIKES!

I don't think I'll surprise anyone when I say that the fate of homebuyers — especially first-time millennial or Gen Z homebuyers — in 2025 is not exactly hunky-dory.

There's a lot of doom and gloom, and I don't want to fearmonger or ignore some of the bright spots in the overall housing market.

But here's a fact that will really make the hair on the back of your neck stand up:

In today's market, the average homeowner has to stay in their house for 7 to 9 years to make owning a better deal than renting. In the not-so-distant past, the rule of thumb was two to three years. That's according to Amanda Pendleton, home trends expert for Zillow.

I interview her during an interview on Business Insider's new "Well Spent" podcast, which I'm hosting.

With higher prices, interest rates, slower home value appreciation, and a booming stock market (where you could be putting your money if not sitting in a house) — the math has changed from the "old rules" on whether buying or renting is better.

Here's something even more wild: In really expensive markets like San Francisco or New York City, it takes 15 to 20 years to make buying a better deal than renting, Pendelton says.

In the first episode of "Well Spent," Pendleton talks to us about how renting is no longer seen by many as just a step along the way to eventual home ownership, but rather as a reasonable financial and lifestyle choice for grown adults.

We also speak with Business Insider real estate correspondent James Rodriguez about how 2025 saw record home prices — $435,300 as the median price nationwide — and the forces that drove this.

Rodgriguez also delivers some unfortunate news about the potential for a "silver tsunami" of boomers vacating their homes. "The people I've been talking to about this say it's more like a glacier, and will happen slowly," he says. "It's not going to be this silver bullet for millennials who are waiting to get into the housing market."

Don't worry, there's some good news, though. Rodriguez tells us what parts of the country are actually good places to buy now. And Pendleton says that compared to 2022 or 2023, buyers are starting to find things a little more favorable.

Pendleton's biggest piece of advice? Millennials should be spending more time shopping around for a mortgage rate before they even open up Zillow.

See the embedded video in this story to watch the first episode of "Well Spent," a video podcast by Business Insider hosted by me (Katie Notopoulos) and senior correspondent Emily Stewart.

On "Well Spent," we'll talk about how we buy, what we buy, and why we buy. And since a house is probably the biggest thing most people will ever buy (if they even do), it makes sense to start here.