Nearly 80% of Gen Z wants to own a home by age 30 - here\'s how much they need to save monthly to buy a house in America\'s biggest cities

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Generation Z may be young, but they have goals like the rest of us. Namely, to become homeowners.

According to a realtor.com survey, 79% of older Gen Zers - the generation born between 1998 and 2016 - are certain they want to own a house one day (just 4% said they definitely don't want the same).

With prices projected to keep rising, realtor.com calculated how much Gen Z's aspiring homeowners will need to save to buy a house by age 30, using forecasted median home prices from Moody's Analytics for the year 2031, when an 18-year-old today will turn 30.

The median home price in the US is expected to reach $265,000 this year; by 2031, it is forecasted to be $386,310, which assumes a modest annual price growth of just 3.2%, according to realtor.com.

The team also analyzed mortgage data from Optimal Blue and found the typical homebuyer under age 30 had a 7% down payment. To consider different down payment options, realtor.com calculated the monthly savings needed over the next 12 years to complete a home purchase with 5%, 10%, or 20% down, plus 3.6% of the purchase price for closing costs.

"The most important thing they can do is start saving as much as possible early on and let compound interest do the heavy lifting for them," Hale said. The realtor.com analysis assumed the money is held in a savings account with a 3% annual return, compounded monthly. It also assumes the Gen Z homebuyer receives no gift money or windfall from relatives to complete the purchase, an increasingly common circumstance among first-timers.

Note: The cities listed below represent the largest metropolitan statistical areas in the US.