For Americans, home ownership is top investment choice

New York

AMERICANS still see owning a home as their best long-term investment, a survey by Bankrate.com showed on June 23, a finding that appears to run counter to a view that millennials are not interested in home ownership.

Cash was the second option for investing for 10 years or more, a surprising choice with interest rates at historical lows and inflation on the rise, promising to erode the value of non- or low interest rate-bearing certificates of deposit (CD).

Real estate was the top choice of 28 per cent of survey respondents, while 25 per cent picked cash, savings accounts or CDs, the highest level since 2014, Bankrate.com said.

Economists and other financial experts have worried that millennials are not buying houses at the same pace as preceding generations, said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

But the financial services firm saw a millennial home-buying boom coming.

"What we were seeing year in, year out in our polls was that the (home-buying) desire of millennials, as much if not more than any other generation, was always there," Mr McBride said.

"It's just a matter of getting to that station in life," he said.

US home sales fell for a fourth month in May, as record high prices and low inventory frustrated potential buyers.

The median existing house price accelerated 23.6 per cent from a year ago to an all-time high of US$350,300, the National Association of Realtors said on June 22.

Stocks were not one of the top two choices for where to invest for the first time since 2017, with just 16 per cent picking the equity market, Bankrate.com said.

Among other survey findings, 35 per cent of Americans indicated some level of comfort with investing in cryptocurrencies, but 61 per cent said they were not comfortable.

Regarding inflation, 58 per cent of Americans said it would not change how they invest. REUTERS