Home ownership among young adults – those 35 years old or younger – has dropped significantly in the past 10 years or more, writes Caitlin McCabe for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Young adults accounted for slightly more than one-third of all homeowners last year, compared with 43.6 percent in 2004. There are a number of reasons for this: the Great Recession, student debt, delayed marriages, and tight credit.

Another obstacle faced by millennials and other potential new home buyers is too few starter homes on the market. When starter homes are listed, more often than not, it results in fierce bidding wars, which led to nearly a quarter of all homes last year being sold at more than the asking price.

Starter homes, defined as homes priced in the lower third of a market, made up only 22.9 percent of the national market and 25.4 percent of the Philadelphia metro market at the end of 2017, according to Trulia.

The current state of the real estate market has caused many millennials and lower-income shoppers to remain in rental properties. Some entry-level buyers have put off purchasing a home for so long they have gone straight into the “mid-tier” home market, after saving for 10 years or more.

Read more about the local real estate market in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.