USA… Most of my friends over 25 have houses and are married.

Under 25, renting townhouses.

Rented until I got married and we decided it was worth shaving our monthly housing costs down by taking a 30 year mortgage. We locked in our lives and weren’t going to be moving away anytime soon.

And then we refinanced when we’d made enough payments and most of all when fed interests rates were insanely brought to 0%.

Now we’re locked in paying a fraction of what the landlords charge my neighbors. And we are constantly barraged with calls and mail to sell to corpo landlords.

Northern Indiana / Chicago, millennial. Basically everyone in my circles own. Have one friend who rents (lives in NYC).

It seems not too crazy to own in IN, but the problem is you have to live in IN.

Canada, and nil. Unless you count my older relatives (boomers), everyone I know that’s my age rents (from boomers).

Canada, Vancouver (HAHA I LOVE THIS CITY HAHA).

I’m a gen Xer in the US. I and most of my peer group have our own places. The ones with good careers and stable relationships generally have houses in more desirable areas, but even folks with more blue collar or less fancy jobs have a place further out in the suburbs or have a small condo. The only younger people I know who own are either in a situation where they both make serious money (like doctors or do well tech), come from money or occasionally just make it happen with just serious hustle and grit (and even then, I’m amazed they can do it).

Most of my friends own a house now, but almost everyone stil had a mortgage to pay. This is the Netherlands. Some of them bought their house during the banking crisis of 2008-2012 when houses were relatively cheap. Others who more recently bought their house have moved to smaller villages with lower prices.

Philly-area millennial.

Among friends and family around my age, I have probably around a dozen or so people or couples who own their homes, one of whom inherited it, and one who bought it from family for cheap

And many more than that who rent, live with their parents (who often but not always own their home) and a couple whose housing situations aren’t quite what you’d call secure but aren’t quite homeless either.

As for myself, I’m kind of caught in paperwork limbo living in a house that’s owned by my mother in law, that she’s agreed to sell to us and we’ve been given carte Blanche to do whatever we want with it, are responsible for repairs and maintenance, but actually getting shit together for a mortgage is being way more of a pain in the ass than it should for reasons I don’t really want to go into.

In my parent’s social circles, the vast majority own homes or have in some way secured some kind of long-term housing for themselves, like one who basically gets their apartment rent free by being some kind of property manager.

Most of them own some type of property. The rest rent. I was one of the last to buy right before shit hit the fan with COVID and the market went to hell.

USA (NYC) and Canada (Ontario). I don’t know a single person who owns their home.

Poland. 30-something years old. I am the only one with a house, half of my friends have flats in the city and the other half rents or lives with parents.

Most do. My social circle and family are spread out over the EU.

I had a SIL and FIL who don’t own, and are generally bad with money. I fear we’re going to have to take them in when they reach retirement.

USA 31, most of my friends (all close in age) do but some still rent. Most work pretty good jobs. 3 I know own one or more multi family buildings they rent. Those are the ones with particularly good jobs, one is a very well to do real estate guy. I own my home with some property I operate a small farm on as a side gig. I’ve had a good income and been wise with my money since my very early 20s though. Home ownership in the US varies on location but is pretty much exclusively for 100k plus annual individuals or couples it seems like right now.

A mid-30s from New Zealand here. Out of my friends and family living in the country that I still keep in touch with, I can only think of 2 households that don’t currently own their home.

One of them was pretty undecided for a long time about where he wants to live and what career to pursue, so didn’t really settle down anywhere. He’s in a serious relationship now though so that might change.

The other one is my brother-in-law and his partner. They’re planning on purchasing a house at some point but it’s not a priority for them - they’re actually renting out our first house from us so they don’t need to worry about getting kicked out without warning or dealing with unpleasant landlords or any of those usual things. When they leave, we plan on selling the house instead of renting it out again. We only kept it to make sure they had a safe space to be themselves.

Out of the homeowners, there’s a quite a mixture of people. Some have come from privilege and got handed money from their parents. Others grew up in a lower socio-economic group and earned all of the initial deposit themselves. One guy has a single dad that’s never owned his own home and has relied on disability income for most of his adult life. My friend had a lot of trouble finishing his university degree and finding work, it was years before he landed his current job at a small store. They’re living together in a house he owns himself now, I thought that was pretty sweet.

New Zealand has had a housing problem problem for a while now, so whenever I think of owning/renting in general it’s usually with negative feelings and frustration. Thanks for giving me this moment to reflect on a more personal level, I think my friends are doing great.

Does it really count as owning if you have a mortgage? (partly tongue-in-cheek, but only partly)

Edit: Bah, someone else already made this smart remark. That’s on me, I didn’t read the whole thread before posting.

Edit again to answer your “how common” question: Most of my older friends/relatives/acquaintances own their homes. Most of those younger than me do not. Or maybe it’s 50/50 by now? I’d have to make a list and try to count, but that’s too much trouble for a lemmy comment.

I’m in my late 20s. I live in rural Texas, but I’ve got friends all over this hemisphere. Only one of my friends ‘owns’ a house, and at the moment, he’s only been able to afford it by renting out all the spare bedrooms. I don’t know how he managed to scrape together a down payment. Everyone else I know is renting.

edit: plenty of my family members have houses, some even paid off, but I cut contact with nearly all of them years ago.