The share of auto loan requests from younger borrowers is on the rise, despite the industry-wide belief that millennials will become an increasingly smaller segment of the car-buying population, according to a LendingTree survey released Wednesday.
The survey revealed that millennials in three Midwestern states seek auto loans more often than their counterparts in any of the United States’ top 50 cities.
LendingTree analyzed auto loan requests received from May 15 of last year to May 15 of this year, along with requests from the total population of auto-loan seekers, and concluded that more activity from millennial consumers may percolate at dealerships and their finance companies in Memphis, Tenn., Milwaukee, Wis., and St. Louis, Mo. The city ranking is created from the percentage of all purchase auto loan requests submitted by consumers between the ages of 18 and 34, according to the survey.
Memphis came out at the top of the list with 42% of millennial auto loan requests, closely followed by Milwaukee with 41% and St. Louis with 39%. Average auto loans to millennials in those cities were $11.8 thousand, $11.4 thousand, and $12.4 thousand, respectively.
An average 33% of auto loan requests received through LendingTree come from applicants under 35 years old. Nationally, their auto loans averaged $14.8 thousand, compared to an average of $17.9 thousand for applicants aged 35 years or older, according to the survey. Additionally, auto loan requests from younger borrowers hiked to 34% in 2016, from 27% in early 2013.
