Table of contents While owning a home can help build wealth and equity, it comes with its own suite of financial risks. In 2025, the average American household pays $6,934 per year in maintenance and upkeep costs alone, according to Insurify’s most recent analysis. Homeownership is still the goal for nearly all Gen Z renters. But emotional reasons, not financial ones, motivate them, according to a recent Insurify survey of 1,002 Americans ages 22 to 28, of which nearly half were renters.