More bad housing news: SLO County among the worst in the nation for young homebuyers

San Luis Obispo County’s housing market has an age problem, according to a new study, and the problem is hardly any young adults are buying homes.

Construction Coverage’s latest analysis of locations with the most homebuyers under the age of 25 listed the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro area — which encompasses all of San Luis Obispo County — among the 10 worst small metros with the fewest homebuyers under 25.

According to the study, SLO County has the eighth-lowest percentage of homebuyers under 25 of any small metropolitan market, with buyers in that age group accounting for just 1.5% of conventional home purchases in the region.

The report attributed the difficulties to several causes, including record lows in supply, increased competition for the remaining housing inventory, consistently high interest rates and high prices.

San Luis Obispo County is hardly an anomaly in California in this area.

Statewide, buyers under 25 accounted for just 1.9% of all home purchases, second only to Hawaii’s rate of 1.6% nationally.

Two other California locations also ranked among the worst of the 15 small metros with the least homebuyers under 25, with Santa Cruz-Watsonville ranking second with 0.7% and Napa coming in sixth at 1.4%.

The worst 15 small metros for homebuyers under 25 included the following areas:

1. The Villages, Florida: 0.5%

2. Santa Cruz-Watsonville: 0.7%

3. Barnstable Town, Massachusetts: 1%

4. Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, Hawaii: 1%

5. Hilton Head Island-Bluffton, South Carolina: 1.3%

6. Napa: 1.4%

7. Bend, Oregon: 1.5%

8. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles: 1.5%

9. Punta Gorda, Florida: 1.7%

10. Sebastian-Vero Beach, Florida: 1.7%

11. Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, Florida: 1.8%

12. Homosassa Springs, Florida: 1.8%

13. Prescott Valley-Prescott, Arizona: 1.9%

14. Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Arizona: 2%

15. East Stroudsberg, Pennsylvania: 2%

No California city of any size ranked among the top 15 metro areas with the highest shares of homebuyers under 25.

Meanwhile, several California areas were also among the 15 worst midsize metro areas with the lowest percentage of homebuyers under 25:

1. Naples-Marco Island, Florida: 1.2%

2. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura: 1.5%

3. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut: 1.6%

4. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara: 1.6%

5. North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida: 1.7%

6. Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina/North Carolina: 1.8%

7. Santa Rosa-Petaluma: 1.8%

8. Urban Honolulu, Hawaii: 1.9%

9. Salisbury, Maryland/Delaware: 2%

10. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida: 2.1%

11. Port St. Lucie, Florida: 2.1%

12. Salinas: 2.1%

13. Stockton: 2.3%

14. Vallejo: 2.3%

15. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida: 2.4%

While no California city made the list of the top 15 large metro areas with the most homebuyers under 25, California cities likewise comprised most of the 15 large metro areas with the lowest percentages of young adult homebuyers.

That list included the following cities:

1. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley: 1.1%

2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara: 1.4%

3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim: 1.5%

4. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad: 1.5%

5. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Florida: 2%

6. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts/New Hampshire: 2%

7. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario: 2%

8. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom: 2.2%

9. New York-Newark-Jersey City: 2.4%

10. Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria: 2.7%

11. Providence-Warwick, Rhode Island/Massachusetts: 2.7%

12. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington: 2.8%

13. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, Texas: 2.8%

14. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida: 2.8%

15. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Oregon/Washington: 2.8%