Marketwatch tells MHProNews that typically, first-time buyers account for approximately 40% of all home sales. Today they account for 28%, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. The reason – slow job growth is making it harder for young would-be buyers to find good paying jobs. In addition, student debt load can be stifling, and it’s harder for young buyers to meet today’s underwriting standards required to get a mortgage, he said.

Yun thinks it will be about three years before the number of first-time buyers returns to normal. In some markets, the oldest millennials (those between the ages of 25 and 34) may have a better chance of becoming homeowners in the near future.

Using data including the local population of people this age, job market conditions, housing affordability and inventory, NAR analyzed 100 metropolitan areas to find the best markets for those older millennials interested in becoming homeowners.  They are:

1. Austin
2. Dallas
3. Denver
4. Des Moines, Iowa
5. Grand Rapids, Michigan
6. Minneapolis
7. New Orleans
8. Ogden, Utah
9. Salt Lake City
10. Seattle

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Article submitted by Sandra Lane to – Daily Business News – MHProNews.