• by Tanya Gazdik , March 21, 2016

Millennials in certain areas of the country seem to be ahead of their counterparts in pursuing home ownership.

Boston, Pittsburgh and Washington, DC beat out the nation’s other top 50 cities, according to a new study by Lending Tree mortgage company.

LendingTree analyzed mortgage requests for consumers age 34 years and under in the past 12 months, along with requests from the total population of mortgage seekers based on the location of the property to be mortgaged. The city ranking is created from the percentage of all purchase mortgage requests that were submitted by consumers in the Millennial generation.

Boston tops the list with 52.5% of all purchase mortgage requests coming from Millennials, followed by Pittsburgh (48.96%) and Washington, DC (48.17%). Average mortgage loans to young borrowers in those cities are $343,783.11, $161,083.33 and $352,719.90 respectively.

On average, 41.36% of all mortgage requests through LendingTree come from applicants under 35 years of age. The average age for a home buyer in that age group is 29. Their mortgage loans average $220,949.02, and their down payments $32,759.66.

The under-35 crowd had been hesitant for some time to enter the housing market, but that fear is starting to shift, said Doug Lebda, CEO of LendingTree. 

"The data all points to the fact that Millennials are increasingly eager to own rather than rent, and even the incredibly high real estate prices in some markets don't necessarily deter them,” Lebda says in a release.

While San Francisco Millennials signed on for the highest average mortgage loans in the country ($505,160.60), requiring the biggest average down payments ($162,474.11), the city also sees a relatively large percentage of home loan requests coming from Millennials (42.32%), underscoring the fact that San Francisco is home to top-earning young professionals who are well positioned to afford expensive housing costs.

Mlllennials in Buffalo, N.Y., meanwhile, are  signing up for the nation's lowest mortgages at just $131,232.06 (down payments average $21,915.93 for this age group). The city also boasts the overall lowest monthly mortgage payment for young homeowners, at just $747.86, helping to explain why the city has seen an upswing in young people moving there.