"The family wealth dynamic I'd watched at the top of the market had quietly migrated all the way down to first-time buyers in the $400,000 range. The mechanism was different. The amounts were smaller. The outcome was the same: the buyers who got the house were usually the ones with someone to call."
"At some point in the last few years, 'call your parents' became a legitimate step in the homebuying process. Not for everyone, and not always, but often enough that it's stopped being embarrassing to admit and started being just kind of expected."
"First-time buyers who did everything right - saved, got pre-approved, kept their credit clean - are still finding out that the gap between what they have and what a deal actually requires is just too wide to close on their own."
The real estate market has evolved to favor buyers with financial backing from family, impacting first-time buyers significantly. Many buyers who save and prepare still struggle to secure homes without parental assistance. This trend, referred to as the 'nepo problem,' highlights a growing divide in the housing market where those with family support succeed while others do not. The focus on interest rates and inventory overshadows this critical issue, which affects the accessibility of homeownership for many individuals.
Read at Fortune
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