How to prepare to buy a home in the next five years

Mallika Mitra for Current

How to prepare to buy a home in the next five years

Buying a home used to be a financial milestone young people added to their to-do list once they hit a certain stage of life. Nowadays, that particular goal seems out of reach for many, Current reports.

More than half (53%) of Americans who are not currently homeowners say that owning a home will never be financially affordable, according to a survey of 4,626 adults conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Northwestern Mutual earlier this year. Their concern is for good reason: Housing prices have been consistently rising since 2012 , with Zillow data showing that the typical home in the U.S. cost around $369,000 in June — up from roughly $260,000 just five years ago. Some places are getting hit with l