WASHINGTON — Despite reports to the contrary, young adults haven’t given up on the American dream of homeownership. They are just biding time.

As many as 93 percent of millennial-generation renters plan to buy a home someday, according to a recent (albeit self-serving) poll by the real estate­ website Trulia. Yet in today’s housing market, characterized by still-subdued prices and record low mortgage rates, only one in three buyers are first-timers.