Brazos Matters: Is Homeownership Still Within Reach? Housing Affordability with the Texas Real Estate Research Center

Can a 25-year-old graduate student today realistically expect to own a home someday? In this episode of "Brazos Matters," host Jay Socol and student contributor Kaleigh Mazy '26 dig into that very anxious, very common sentiment with two guests from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University: Research Director Daniel Oney and Research Economist Yanling Mayer. The pair explain what "housing affordability" really measures beyond sticker price — mortgage rates, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs — and challenge the assumption that Texas is still the budget-friendly haven it once was; the state's cumulative price appreciation over the past decade has actually outpaced the national average. They also push back on some Gen Z doom-and-gloom narratives: surprisingly, the median age of first-time buyers has held steady at 32-33 for two decades, even as more young buyers lean on financial help from parents and grandparents to get there. The conversation ranges from the shrinking supply of true "starter homes" and the recently signed 21st Century Road to Housing Act's potential to loosen zoning and boost manufactured housing, to what makes the Bryan-College Station market so distinctive — a college town shaped heavily by A&M enrollment, game-day rental housing, and a disproportionate share of small multi-unit housing options. The guests close with grounded advice for aspiring first-time buyers: know your finances, resist the urge to time the market, and think of a home first as a place to live securely rather than purely as an investment. "Brazos Matters" is a production of Aggieland's Public Media -- 90.9 KAMU FM & KAMU-TV -- members of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement.