It will take most SF millennials 20 years to afford just a down payment

For sale sign outside of a home on 15Th Ave on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 in San Francisco, California. For sale sign outside of a home on 15Th Ave on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 in San Francisco, California. Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close It will take most SF millennials 20 years to afford just a down payment 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Nearly all of the 6,400 millennial renters Apartment List surveyed for its most recent homeownership report say they want to purchase a home. But there's a problem: half of them have nothing saved for a down payment. Only 11 percent have saved $10,000 or more.

In San Francisco — the priciest housing market in the nation — a 20-percent down payment on a median-priced condo requires a whopping $175,180, the study found. It will take most San Francisco millennials (over 80 percent) more than 20 years to save that amount. Only five percent will be able to save the six figures necessary for a down payment in fewer than five years.

The majority of San Franciscans surveyed don't seem to realize the time it will take for their home-ownership dreams to materialize. When asked how much money they expect to shell out on a down payment, the average answer was around $95,000 — more than $80,000 less than the actual figure.

The gap between expected down payment and actual down payment was far and away the widest among San Franciscans, when compared to residents of other major cities. For example, the expected down payment of survey-takers in New York was only $15,000 below the actual median cost.

The analysis also found that when it comes to homeownership, generational wealth may separate the haves from the have-nots. Family support can help millennials make their down payments, but substantial family support is much more available to high earners, the report discovered. On average, millennial renters who make over $100,000 a year expect their families to contribute $51,172, while those making less than $25,000 expected only $4,358.

Additionally, college graduates without debt are twice as likely to be able to save for a down payment within the next five years as those who are currently paying their debt down.

"Given these trends," the report concludes, "it seems that for many millennials, the dream of homeownership will continue to loom on the horizon, frustratingly beyond reach."