regarding the stat redfin uses: homeownership" is only counting those that are head of household (which is who is responding when filling out a census), e.g. if there are ~100 genZ's, consisting of 96 that live with their parents, 3 that rent, 1 that owns their own home, the stat just takes those last two numbers, ~1/4, and redfin then reports "26% of GenZs owned their own home".

Agree, The author of the post said he has been paying $2500/mo in rent, that is similar to the mortgage on a $450k house with 20% down. The problem is all the $450k houses are miles from where most young people want to live. I am not sure why they want to live in large cities and many suburbs have been abandoned. Probably has something to do with loss of manufacturing and other middle class jobs.

You're not sure why young people want to live in large cities?

I know plenty of millennial homeowners that would not be able to afford todays prices at current interest rates. They bought before the covid bump (or earlier) and could barely afford it then. Had they rented instead they would probably be locked out of the housing market, at least until they got a significant pay increase or some sort of windfall.