It’s not an impulse: it’s a rational response to disappointments: highly unlikely bets are often seen as more advantageous, given the distance from the dream of owning a home and a good renovation, in the eyes of Generation Z.
Owning your own home has always been a symbol of stability. But for many young people, that goal is becoming an increasingly distant goal.
As house prices soar and salaries fail to keep up, more and more young people are giving up on the race, simply because they think they will never be able to finish it. They are thus excluded from the real estate market, and this is changing the way Gen Z works, consumes and invests.
The conclusion is from one of economists from the universities of Chicago and Northwestern, and shows that young people who no longer believe it is possible to buy a house they tend to work less, spend more on leisure and channel savings into risky financial bets, such as cryptocurrencies.
While some give up, those who still see buying a home as a realistic goal or who are already homeowners avoid risks and put more effort into their work.
Interestingly, the behavior not impulsive: It is described by the authors as a “rational” response to declining economic expectations.
They call this phenomenon, according to , “financial nihilism”. For many young people, long-term financial planning is a fiction: comfortable retirements, owning a home and future security already seem beyond their reach. If the system no longer promises clear rewards to those who do everything ‘right’, the temptation is to risk everything on high-return bets, even if highly unlikely: this is seen as more tangible than the ‘dream’ of owning a home, stability, a good salary and, in the end, a good retirement.
The malaise is also reflected in what some researchers call “quarter age crisis”: Instead of starting adulthood optimistic, many young people quickly experience a decline in well-being.
