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Ipea and OECD data show that Generation Z faces a real estate market where home prices have risen far above salaries, high interest rates block access to credit, and prolonged cohabitation in parents’ homes has become the only viable option for millions of young Brazilians.
For previous generations, the script seemed pre-written: study, get a stable job, and buy a home before thirty. For Generation Z, that script no longer exists. Data from Ipea (Institute of Applied Economic Research), released by ndmais, reveal that young people born from the second half of the 1990s onwards face a scenario where the real estate market has become a barrier instead of an achievable goal, with property prices that have grown far above inflation and salaries in recent decades. Housing credit, which should be the bridge between desire and deed, demands conditions that most of this generation simply cannot meet.
The result is visible in the numbers and behavior. Brazil is experiencing what Ipea classifies as prolonged cohabitation, a phenomenon in which the so-called kangaroo generation stays longer and longer in their parents’ homes, not out of comfort or lack of ambition, but because the math between what is earned and what is needed to finance a property doesn’t add up. This economic imbalance already spills over into other spheres of adult life: the World Economic Forum points out that the difficulty in achieving housing independence delays milestones such as marriage and the decision to have children, completely redesigning the maturation timeline for Generation Z.
Prices went up, salaries fell behind
The most concrete obstacle between Generation Z and homeownership is mathematical. An OECD report shows that, in recent decades, residential property prices have grown at a considerably faster rate than salaries and inflation in almost all economies analyzed. In practice, the same property that parents bought with five years of savings today requires more than a decade of rigorous saving from young people, and that’s when there’s anything left at the end of the month.
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In Brazil, the scenario takes on even more severe contours. The real estate market in large cities operates as a relentless socioeconomic filter: the more expensive the square meter, the more young people are pushed back into their childhood rooms. The salary of someone starting their career rarely covers rent, food, transportation, and still allows them to save the down payment required by banks, which often exceeds 20% of the total property value. For Generation Z, the equation closes with a negative balance even before the calculation begins.
Credit blocked and the closed door of financing
If the gap between salary and property price is already wide, access to credit makes the abyss insurmountable. High interest rates and a high down payment requirement form a double barrier that disproportionately affects Generation Z. To obtain financing, the banking system demands precisely what this generation has least of: contractual stability and proven income over long periods. Economist Gonzalo Paz-Pardo, from the European Central Bank, highlights that the current job market is radically different from the one that supported the dream of homeownership for previous generations.
Temporary contracts, informal work, and the so-called platform economy dominate the opportunities available to younger people. Without a predictable paycheck and a lasting employment bond, the doors to credit close regardless of actual payment capacity. Generation Z is not rejected by the financial system because they spend poorly, but because they earn in a way that the banking model does not recognize as secure. The little that remains of their salary is consumed by rents that have also risen above inflation, creating a cycle in which young people pay to live temporarily, but never accumulate enough to live permanently.
From the dream of homeownership to quiet ambition
The economic frustration generated by the inaccessible real estate market was not limited to the housing sector. It contaminated the way Generation Z views their own work. If working hard no longer guarantees, by itself, the achievement of homeownership, it makes sense that this generation is rethinking what it means to be successful. Movements like quiet ambition, which prioritize mental health and personal balance over promotions and accumulation, gained strength precisely in a context where effort ceased to have a tangible reward.
The trend of the so-called lazy job follows the same logic. Young people who realize that even working to their limit will not achieve the credit for a loan start looking for less stressful jobs, as the traditional material reward seems unattainable. Generation Z has not abandoned ambition: it has redirected it. The energy that would once be invested in overtime to fatten savings for a down payment on a property is now channeled into experiences, studies, mobility, and building a lifestyle that does not depend on an apartment deed to have value. Salary has ceased to be an instrument of wealth and has become a tool for urban survival.
Has the dream changed, or has reality imposed another path?
To say that Generation Z has given up on homeownership would be an oversimplification. What the data shows is a forced adaptation to a real estate market that has become exclusionary for those starting without inheritance or family support. The desire for independence has not died, but it has migrated in form. If homeownership doesn’t happen by 25, the focus shifts to geographical freedom, continuous education, and immediate quality of life, even if that freedom still resides, for now, in the room next to their parents’.
Stalled credit, stagnant wages, and escalating prices have created a scenario in which property ownership has ceased to be a universal marker of maturity and has become a statistical privilege. For Generation Z, the question has shifted from “when will I buy my house” to “does it make sense to organize my entire life around something the system has made almost impossible?” The answer this generation is giving, with its new patterns of consumption, career, and housing, may not please the real estate market, but it is perfectly rational given the numbers.
And you, do you think Generation Z has given up on homeownership or simply been excluded from the game? Should credit be more accessible for young people starting their careers, or does the real estate market need a different model? Leave your comment and tell us: with the salary you earn today, how many years would it take you to save for a down payment on a property in your city?
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