For the past several decades, home ownership has been an American Dream. It has symbolized everything from an investment opportunity, a career where money could be made easily, even a reflection of social status. Not one but two recent presidents ran on campaign promises to deliver affordable home ownership opportunities to all. We know where all of this “dreaming” led: an economic downturn of historical proportions.  Given the pulverized state of the housing market and its heartbreaking effects on millions of people, is home ownership still an aspirational value Americans strive to attain? After all, anyone even a little bit acquainted with housing’s bubble-inflating drunk and subsequent deflation hangover would surely say no…or would they? You’d be surprised.  Seventy percent of Americans still view home ownership as part of their own American dream, according to San Francisco, C.A.-based Trulia.com, an online real estate search engine. Trulia teams up with Harris Interactive twice a year to conduct an “American Dream” survey, polling homeowners and renters about their personal views on housing. This latest survey pooled responses from 2,079 adults 18 and older (1,339 homeowners and 683 renters), from January 20 t0 24, 2011.  WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: “The American Dream Is Still Alive”More than three out of four current homeowners say their homes continue to be the “best investment they ever made.” Only 20% admitted to “feeling trapped in their ‘underwater’ homes” and of those 20%, 14% said they would walk away from their homes “in a heartbeat” if they could.  In other words, home ownership still remains a value worth hanging onto for people economically capable of maintaining the costs of their properties; and those people struggling under cost burdens not only feel disenchanted but are willing to smash their credit to pieces to escape home ownership if they can. That 20% statistic tells me home ownership values have changed dramatically for those on the verge on default, but not for the financially stable homeowners still managing to stay on top of their monthly mortgage payments.  When you think about it, 70% is a hefty number of people holding onto that home ownership American Dream. What’s really interesting is that the demographic most interested in living the dream is actually the Y generation, A.K.A. the “millennials” aged 18 to 34. (For more on this generation, check out “Best Cities For Young Adults”)  This demographic is not only remaining loyal to this tumultuous American value, it’s becoming more enchanted with it: more than one in four millennials say their views on home ownership “have become more positive over the past six months,” according to Trulia’s survey. Indeed 88% of young adult renters aspire to own their own homes — a strikingly hopeful statistic that could play a vital role in bringing the housing market to a place of stability.  Millennnials have witnessed the economic downturn and the foreclosures of their parents. That doesn’t matter. They want that home of their own for several key reasons. They see reports like Trulia’s Rent-Vs-Buy Index which states that 72% of U.S. cities provide more affordable opportunities to potential buyers rather than renters. They hear that now really is a good time to buy a home since their credit hasn’t been crushed in the past several years. They hear that they can get really great homes for prices discounted as much as 40,50,60% off of 2007 peak prices.  “Today I feel more positive about the housing market than at any point in the past three years,” asserts an optimistic Pete Flint, founder and chief executive of Trulia. “The dreams of home ownership have returned and the worst is behind us.”  First-time home buyers constitute 50% of all residential property purchases being made right now. If the Generation Y-ers have high hopes for fulfilling their “American dreams,” we could begin to see a demand for all of that supply sitting on the market. Of course it will take years for all of this top happen but maybe, just maybe the youth really are our housing market future. (For first-time home buyer tips, check out “How To Buy Your First Home.”)  Tara-Nicholle Nelson, consumer educator at Trulia, breaks this survey’s findings down and analyzes housing from its intriguing results in the below video. It is definitely worth the watch.
Even in the midst of a terrible housing market, most Americans have not given up on the dream of owning their own homes -- especially young adults.