The high cost of living is getting in the way of 45 percent of millennial homebuyers achieving their goal. So they're resorting to all sorts of ways to raise cash—including raiding their retirement accounts.

A new Bankrate survey finds that to scrape together the money for a down payment, millennials are moving in with relatives, selling off their stuff and even taking money out of their retirement accounts. Even with those efforts, it still takes them an average of 3 years to stash enough money to cover the down payment—while it takes GenXers 2 years and 9 months to cobble the payment together, and 2 years and 6 months for boomers to have managed it.

Oddly, many don't even know what the required down payment is, the survey finds, but they have a lot of company: 51 percent of Americans say they don't know how much they need as a down payment in the current market to buy a home.

It's not as hard for GenXers or boomers, aside from the down payment, to be able to buy a house: Just 38 percent of GenXers and 31 percent of baby boomers say that the high cost of living is an obstacle.

And then there's student loan debt, now standing at $1.6 trillion, which also weighs more heavily on millennials than on their elders: 23 percent say it's an obstacle, compared with only 15 percent of GenXers and 5 percent of boomers in the market for a house.

It could be desperation sending millennials to their retirement accounts for that down payment and taking other drastic steps: 22 percent of millennials don't think they'll ever get enough saved.

So instead, 13 percent have raided their futures, far more than GenXers (8 percent) or boomers (7 percent). They've moved in with family or friends (14 percent) to cut their expenses, sold off personal items (12 percent) and hit up family or friends for a loan (6 percent). And that's in addition to saving, using a first-time buyer loan or grant or getting a gift—not a loan—of funds from family and friends.

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How buying a home can put millennials' retirement at risk

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