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For a third of U.S. renters, owning a home feels like a lost cause.
That’s according to the latest CNBC/SurveyMonkey quarterly survey, in which 34% of renters selected “I want to own a home, but I will never be able to afford it” as a response when asked whether they plan to buy a home in the future.
That pessimism cuts across generations. Among renters ages 18 to 34, 35% say they want to own but don’t think they’ll ever be able to afford it, roughly equal to the 36% of renters ages 35 to 64 who say the same.
One likely culprit behind the gloomy outlook: high mortgage rates. The survey was conducted Sept. 28 to Sept. 30 among 982 U.S. adults, when the average 30-year mortgage rate was around 7.56% — the highest in three years, according to Mortgage News Daily. That rate is the same as of Wednesday afternoon.
Rising home prices haven’t helped, either. The median existing-home sale price was $429,100 in August 2026, up about 38% from $310,600 in August 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors. At that price, a 20% down payment would be $85,820.
“The financial barriers are very real,” says Thomas Ravert, a certified financial planner with Pathway Capital Corp in New York. The cost of buying a home goes beyond the down payment and mortgage, with closing costs, property taxes and insurance adding to the expense, he says.
What’s keeping renters from buying
Most renters want to buy a home, with 87% saying they want to own one eventually, according to the survey.
Affording one is another matter. More than half of renters, 52%, say they can’t afford a down payment. Another 47% cite income or credit scores that are too low to qualify for a mortgage, while 42% say mortgage rates are too high.
“Mortgage rates directly reduce purchasing power: A buyer who once could afford a home may now have to buy a less expensive property, put more money down, or accept a much larger payment,” says Ravert. “First-time buyers feel this especially strongly because they usually do not have equity from another home to apply toward the purchase.”
That pressure is showing up among buyers. First-time buyers made up just 21% of buyers in 2025, a record low in data going back to 1981, according to the National Association of Realtors. Prior to 2008, first-time buyers typically made up about 40% of the market, NAR says.
It’s OK to keep renting
Not everyone wants to buy a home, with 22% of renters saying they never plan to purchase one, according to the survey.
For people who prefer to rent, there can be advantages over homeownership, too, including more flexibility if you need to move and the ability to leave major repairs and maintenance to your landlord. Homeowners, meanwhile, need to budget for those costs along with expenses such as property taxes and homeowners insurance.
And if renting is working for you financially, there’s no need to rush into a purchase, especially if it would significantly increase your monthly housing costs, Ravert says. “A buyer also has to be able to comfortably carry the full monthly cost of ownership,” he says.
While proponents of homeownership note that monthly payments allow you to build equity toward an asset, rather than paying a landlord, buying a home doesn’t automatically put you in a better financial position, Ravert says. “Renting is not a financial failure, just as owning a home is not automatically a financial success.”
For renters hoping to buy, setting a down-payment target and creating a realistic savings plan can make the goal feel more manageable, says Corinna Rose, a certified financial planner with Bell Investment Advisors in California.
Rose also recommends building wealth through retirement accounts and brokerage accounts while keeping separate savings for a future home purchase.
“Don’t wait to buy a home to start building wealth,” Rose says. “Build wealth first.”
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