When new parents say they feel like buying a house in Los Angeles is becoming increasingly impossible, they’re not exaggerating. Federal data shows they’re right.

No American city shuts millennials with kids out of homeownership more than L.A.

Millennial parents in Los Angeles own less than 10% of family-sized homes — those with at least three bedrooms. Instead, large homes in L.A. are two-and-a-half times more likely to be owned by empty nesters in the baby boom generation.

That’s according to a recent report from the real estate company Redfin. Researchers analyzed U.S. Census data and found that 23.7% of L.A. metro area homes with three bedrooms or more are owned by people aged 58 to 76 with no children at home. In contrast, parents aged 26 to 41 own just 9.4% of those L.A. homes.

“The gap is so pronounced in Los Angeles because the supply shortage is so pronounced,” said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist. “Because of the scarcity, it's like if a baby boomer is occupying a home, that’s one less home that a millennial with kids could occupy.”

This divide exists nationwide. But the Redfin study reveals that young parents in L.A. are faring the worst. They’re even less likely to own a family-sized home than their peers in cities like San Francisco and New York, where millennials with kids own 10.9% and 11.8% of large homes respectively.

‘Inertia’ keeps L.A. homeowners in place

These statistics raise a high-stakes question for L.A.’s young parents: Why aren’t older homeowners downsizing? When their kids grow up and leave home, why aren’t baby boomers in L.A. selling their houses to families who actually need the space?

Dowell Myers, a University of Southern California urban planning and demography professor, says L.A. gives homeowners plenty of reasons to stay put. Their home values continue to grow rapidly. And California’s Prop. 13, which voters passed in 1978, keeps property taxes low for long-term homeowners.

Myers said, “Your value is appreciating the longer you procrastinate. You're protected from taxes. Then, on top of that, you're protected from having to buy a new house with a new mortgage at a higher [interest] rate. Those are all killer incentives.”

Californians are also living longer. Many are working longer too. Unlike their counterparts in colder states, they enjoy weather that gives them little reason to seek better climates in their golden years. Florida sunshine does not beckon Southern Californians.

“The number one reason why people don't move is just inertia,” Myers said.

Where older homeowners have gained, younger Angelenos have lost. Skyrocketing home values mean few millennials can afford to buy a house today. Some are getting financial help from their parents, but not all Angelenos have relatives who can assist with down payments.

Thirty years ago, a median-priced L.A. County home cost about five to six times the median household’s annual income. Today, those homes cost more than 10 times the median income.

Baby boomers to the rescue

Some older homeowners are realizing that unless they start to share all that accumulated wealth, their adult children could be forced to leave L.A.

In 2020, Rose Liebermann saw her daughter Natasha Gershon, 38, struggling to house herself and her two kids after a divorce. Gershon had been caring for her autistic son as a stay-at-home mom. Without proof of steady income, landlords were reluctant to accept her. She ended up needing to pay an entire year’s worth of rent up front to secure a three-bedroom home.

“Her needing to basically deplete any financial cushion she had to get a rental — to just get a place for her to have a roof over her head — it was excruciating as a parent to witness that,” Liebermann said. “It became clear that we had to come up with a solution.”

That solution came in the form of an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, in the backyard of a home Liebermann purchased in the West Hills neighborhood of L.A.’s San Fernando Valley in 2021. She now lives in that recently constructed ADU while Gershon raises her kids in the main home.

“I'm very, very lucky because my mom stepped in and really gave up her entire life to allow us to have a permanent residence,” Gershon said. “Without her, I really don't know what my housing situation with the kids would look like.”

Natasha Gershon and her mom Rose Liebermann sit in the living room of the West Hills home where Gershon lives with her children.

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The move was made possible by Liebermann selling her previous home in Granada Hills. She and her then-husband purchased it in 1987 for about $160,000. She raised Gershon there, and said she wouldn’t have left if her daughter hadn’t needed help. It sold for over $900,000.

“It's mind-boggling,” Liebermann said of her previous home’s skyrocketing value. “And it's a tragedy for all the young people in L.A.”

Gershon recognizes that not everyone is lucky enough to have a home-owning parent in L.A. willing to pursue an ADU.

A 2023 report from the United Way of Greater Los Angeles found that L.A. County’s Black and Latino households had lower homeownership rates (33.5% and 39.1% respectively) than white and Asian households (53.9% and 54%). The report also estimated that white families own homes valued 1.65 times greater on average than those owned by Black families.

“What does it cost to get into the L.A. home market? It's sacrifice,” Gershon said. “But you have to have the resources and the ability to make those sacrifices. And that's definitely a privilege that a lot of people don't have.”

Are ADUs the new starter home?

State lawmakers passed bills in 2016 making it much easier to build ADUs across California. Homeowners in L.A. immediately responded by building thousands of new backyard homes, more than in other part of the state. In 2017, ADU permits grew almost 30-fold in the city of L.A. By 2018, ADUs accounted for half of all the city’s new housing.

Not all of those ADUs are helping millennial parents find a place to raise their kids. Some homeowners are renting out their ADUs for extra income. Others list them on sites like Airbnb. In some cases, they’re being built as work-from-home offices or exercise spaces.

But Jon Grishpul — co-owner of Maxable, a company that guides homeowners through the process of building an ADU — says these units can help millennials in other ways, even if they don’t have parents who already own a home in L.A.

For example, young families could purchase a home and rely on rental income from a backyard unit to help cover their mortgage. Or two millennial families could co-buy a property with the intention of constructing an ADU for one of the couples.

“The housing market was not made for [millennials] here in L.A.,” Grishpul said. “Something like an ADU solves many of those problems, because it's significantly more affordable than buying a new home.”

Natasha Gershon stands in the backyard of her West Hills home, which features an ADU for her mom and a playground for her kids.

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Multi-generational living is nothing new, and it remains normal for many cultures in L.A. But over time, homeownership became wrapped up in the California Dream, leaving many millennials feeling embarrassed about living with their parents into adulthood.

Gershon said when she was younger, she never pictured her mom living in her backyard. But now, she sees a big silver lining to her unexpected circumstances. There’s always someone nearby to help with child care. And her kids get to spend more time with their grandma.

“That's the biggest upside,” Gershon said. “When you’re living next to family, you have the benefits of family. I wouldn't change that aspect of it for anything.”

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