A recent survey from MetLife provides some insight into generational views on housing and finance. According to the survey, Multi-Generational Views on Family Financial Obligations, most do not believe parents have a fiscal responsibility to help their adult children buy a home. Just 12 percent of Baby Boomer parents say they have provided money to an adult child to help them buy a home. Americans also don’t see home ownership as a cross-generational family financial responsibility. Half of Americans in this survey (52 percent) suggest that a parent has no responsibility at all to help their children by contributing to the down payment on a house. Baby Boomers (56 percent) are especially likely to believe this, compared to Gen Yers (47 percent), who are more likely to be just entering the housing market (44 percent of Gen Yers rent, compared to 11 percent of Boomers). Less than 10 percent in each generation feel a strong or absolute responsibility to contribute to a down payment.
