Mark Dang and his partner Stephanie Som and their daughter Miesha 5, have just bought a property in Highett, and are also selling their current one in the same suburb. Picture: David Caird

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It’s Australian Bureau of Statistics official: fewer Millennials own a home than Generation X and Baby Boomers did when they were the same age.

A notch more than half (55 per cent) of Australians aged between 25-39 years are homeowners, compared with 62 per cent of Generation X and 66 per cent of Baby Boomers when they were in that same age bracket.

ABS analysis of Census data from 1991, 2006 and 2021 shows homeownership, including homes owned outright or with a mortgage, for those aged between 25–39 years has decreased in each successive generation.

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The 25–39 year old Baby Boomers in 1991 were three times more likely than the 25–39 year old Millennials in 2021 to own their home outright.

The ABS compared the characteristics of Millennials, the 25–39 year age cohort, in the 2021 Census with characteristics of Generation X and Baby Boomers when they were the same age using data from the 2006 and 1991 Censuses.

Participation in the labour force was similar for Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers, with around four in five employed or looking for work when they were 25–39 years old.

But for females, Millennials were more likely than earlier generations to be in the labour force (76 per cent), compared to Generation X (69 per cent) and Baby Boomers (66 per cent).

Geoff & Elaine Robinson recently sold their Glen Waverley townhouse. Glen Waverley and Mt Waverley have made their homeowners millionaires in median price gains over the past 10 years. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

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Millennials are the most qualified generation at 25–39 years of age.

Higher education qualifications were more likely for Millennials, with 40 per cent having a bachelor degree or higher, compared with almost 25 per cent of Generation X. Only 12 per cent of Baby Boomers had a degree at the same age.

The most common living arrangement for Millennials is living in a couple household with no children (36 per cent), which is twice the rate of Generation X (18 per cent) when they were 25–39 years old.

One in five Millennials (21 per cent) are living with a partner and children, compared to more than half of Baby Boomers (52 per cent) at the same age.

Compared with earlier generations, Millennials married at an older age.

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