"Seems out of reach": most Americans believe they will never be able to buy a home

Americans' optimism is not going at its best and this is also true for the famous "dream of homeownership". Indeed, an overwhelming majority of current renters cannot afford to buy a home. In turn, a good portion of Americans have no hope of buying a home. 

So found a survey recently conducted by CNN, the results of which evidenced that 86% of current renters in the United States cannot afford to buy a home.

"Buying a home is absolutely something we would love to do. It seems like something out of our reach. We’re straddled with seemingly insurmountable debt. Home ownership seems impossible … and that hurts for two kids of Baby Boomers and feels like a disappointment," Brent Bjornsen, a 39-year-old father, told the aforementioned media outlet. 

In turn, 54% of respondents said they are "not very likely or not at all likely to ever be able to (buy a home),"a fact that could hurt the Democratic ticket in the November election. 

"That really speaks to a lot of pessimism here about the American dream, how it feels like it's out of reach politicall. You could see how this would be an issue for the party in power and, economically, it's a problem too because, look, homeownership remains the ticket to wealth generation. So this is just widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots," CNN journalist Matt Egan explained;

An example of this reality is Jeremy Andersson, a 40-year-old father of twins, who seems to have thrown in the towel: "We've given up on the idea of owning our own home. "We feel the social pressure to buy a house because that's the American dream, right? To have a family and buy a house," he added. 

"I’m not going to pay $350,000 for a run-down house. It almost seems laughable. We can’t find anything affordable for a family of four. I’m not going to play your game anymore. I’m done," Andersson said;

As for prices, and, according to data released by Zillow, a traditional basic home is worth at least $1 million in 237 cities, the highest figure in history. Five years ago, only 84 cities met that criterion.

What does a "starter" home mean? The company defines it as one that falls within the lowest third of home values in a given region.