Average Age of First-Time Homebuyer Hits All-Time High

The average age of the typical American first-time homebuyer has reached the all-time high of 38 this year, according to a new report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), up from 35 in 2023.

This years’ 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, a survey which tracked transactions in the U.S. housing market between July 2023 and June 2024, found that this is no country for young people when it comes to homeownership—and it’s not only first-time buyers who are struggling to get on the property ladder.

The average age of homebuyers in the U.S. has hit 56 overall this year, according to NAR, up from 49 last year. The age of the typical repeat buyer has gone up from 58 to 61 during the same time frame.

These numbers speak of the bleak reality facing Americans trying to buy a home in the U.S. market today, as affordability remains a crucial issue for millions of people.

House prices have been skyrocketing in the years of the pandemic, as relatively low mortgage rates and a historic lack of inventory spurred ruthless bidding wars between buyers who could afford it.

While the sudden rise of mortgage rates following the end of the health emergency had a cooling effect on demand, the continuing shortage of homes in the country has contributed to bring prices back on the rise after a brief correction between late summer 2022 and spring 2023. According to Redfin, the median sale price of a home in the U.S. was $427,496 in September, up 3.8 percent compared to a year earlier.

The cost of housing is clearly impacting the profile of the typical U.S. homebuyer, with Millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) being hit the hardest by the current affordability crisis.

The increased prices in the U.S. market, combined with the impact of at least two financial crises over the past 15 years or so, have made it so that this generation has achieved homeownership much later than previous ones—a switch that has caused the delay of other key life milestones for them, including building a family.

According to NAR’s survey, buyers…