RealEstateEconomyWatch.com

Compared with whites, greater shares of both black and Hispanic young adults say owning their own home is among their top priorities. While 25 percent of blacks and 26 percent of Hispanics say owning a home is of the highest importance in their lives, only 12 percent of whites say the same.

However, homeownership remains nearly as important to young all adults as it was to their parents. Roughly one-in-five young adults (18 percent) and nearly the same share of adults aged 35 and older (22 percent) say owning a home is one of the most important things in their life.

Those are some of the key findings from a new study of young adults by the Pew Research Center. Tough economic times altering young adults’ daily lives and long-term plans, including household formation and homeownership.

The survey, conducted in early December, found that 31 percent of adults in their late 20s and early 30ss have postponed either getting married or having a baby , and one-in-four (24 percent) say they have moved back in with their parents after living on their own. Among those ages 25 to 29, the share moving back home rises to 34 percent. Men and women are equally likely to say they have moved back in with their parents and postponed marriage and childbirth.

When it comes to marriage and family, young adults without a college education are among the most likely to say economic conditions have affected their plans. Among those ages 18 to 34 who are not college graduates and are not currently enrolled in school, nearly three-in-ten (28%) say they have put off getting married and an equal proportion say they have put off having a baby because of the economy. Among young adults who graduated from college or are currently enrolled in school, only about half as many say the same.

Young whites and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as young blacks to say they have moved back in with their parents after living on their own because of economic conditions. Among those ages 18 to 34, 26 percent of whites and 29 percent of Hispanics say they have moved back home, compared with 13 percent of blacks. Young Hispanics are more likely than young whites to say they have postponed getting married because of the economy.

Young people optimistic about their own financial futures, and they also are confident that their children will be better off financially than they are now. In contrast, older people are significantly less optimistic that their children will fare better financially than they have. According to the survey, six-in-ten adults ages 18 to 34 expect their children to be doing better financially when they reach a comparable age, versus 43% of those 35 and older.

However, these data also suggest that views begin to change around the time a young person turns 30. Among those 18 to 29 years old, about two-thirds (65 percent) are optimistic about their children’s financial future. But among those just slightly older, 30 to 34, less than half (46 percent) are as hopeful.

Minorities are far more optimistic about their children’s future than are whites. More than seven-in-ten young blacks (71 percent) and a slightly larger share of young Hispanics (77 percent) expect that their children will have a better standard of living. In contrast, barely half of all young whites (52 percent) are equally optimistic about their children’s financial futures.