Truework, a leading provider of employment and income verification solutions for the mortgage industry, has officially published the results from its Truework 2025 Recent Homebuyer Report, which reveals that younger buyers are increasingly making risky financial bets on their ability to refinance in the future.
Going by the available details, this particular survey took into account the opinion of more than 1,000 Americans who purchased homes in the past 18-24 months.
As for the results, nearly two-thirds of Gen Z (64%) and Millennial buyers (65%) said it’s important to their financial health to be able to refinance their mortgage, double the rate of Baby Boomer recent buyers at just 32%.
Looking past the younger crowd, though, more than half (56%) of literally all recent buyers said that refinancing to a lower rate is important or extremely important to their financial health, whereas on the other hand, 1 in 4 (25%) said the ability to refinance is “extremely important” in the context of their economic well-being.
“These findings reveal a generation of homebuyers who are taking significant financial risks in today’s market,” said Ethan Winchell, Co-founder and President of Truework. “While homeownership remains a priority, younger buyers are betting their financial future on the hope that interest rates will drop significantly enough to make refinancing viable.”
Talk about these results on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how one in every three Millennial and Gen Z buyers (33% each) experienced “significant stress” during the buying process, compared to just 22% of Boomers.
Next up, we must discuss a contingent of 27% of Gen Z buyers who currently feel pessimistic about their financial future after buying a house, significantly higher than the overall average of 16%.
An estimated 15% of Millennial buyers in particular also admit they are “not confident at all” when it comes to understanding the financial terms of their mortgages, a number which is higher than even the youngest Gen Z buyers at 11%, and much higher than Gen X or Boomer buyers (8% each).
“Today’s homebuyers are increasingly desperate for a return to lower interest rates, with many who have recently purchased a home hanging their hopes on future refinancing to lower their monthly payments, which could be a very risky move if this doesn’t happen – and most analysts predict it will not anytime soon. And those who are looking to buy today who we spoke with voiced frustration with how high rates have limited the homes they can afford to consider,” said Victor Kabdebon, CTO and co-founder of Truework.
Another detail worth a mention relates to those 19% of Gen Z buyers who reported feeling financially insecure when purchasing their homes, more than double the percentage of Boomer buyers (8% said they felt financially insecure), as well as slightly higher than Millennials and Gen X (16% each).
Alongside that, 37% of Gen Z and 32% of Millennial first-time buyers found the experience “more difficult than expected,” compared to only 19% of Gen X buyers and 7% of Boomers
Almost like an extension of it, 90% of recent homebuyers reported experiencing stress in the home purchase process and 30% reported “Significant Stress”. West Coast buyers, in particular, would go on to experience the highest stress levels, with 37% reporting “significant stress,” compared to 27% of recent buyers in the South.
Turning our attention towards the primary source of this stress, it includes a tie between “navigating lengthy paperwork and documentation” and “limited inventory in desired neighborhoods”. If we just stick to the financial challenge, the number one difficulty was reported to be “budgeting for unexpected expenses and repairs,” followed by “gathering income and employment information and asset documentation”.
Among other things, it ought to be acknowledged that top two motivations deemed to encourage homebuying across all generations, regions, and marital status were “necessity for my life and/or family” at 32% and a realization that “prices don’t seem to be dropping and might actually go up” at 21%.
In fact, despite concerns and stress factors, 86% said they felt financially secure when purchasing their home and 82% said they feel “optimistic” or “very optimistic” about their financial future after buying their home.
