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 in 2024 are not only older, but wealthier: the income for first-time homebuyers has hit an all-time high of $97,000 in 2023 (up from 95,500 the year before), while that of the typical buyer, a record of $108,800 (up from 107,000).
Under these circumstances, fewer Americans can afford to be homebuyers. The first-time buyer market share, according to NAR, dropped from 32 percent in 2023 to 24 percent last year.
"The U.S. housing market is split into two groups: first-time buyers struggling to enter the market and current homeowners buying with cash," Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, said in a press release shared with Newsweek.
"First-time buyers face high home prices, high mortgage interest rates and limited inventory, making them a decade older with significantly higher incomes than previous generations of buyers," Lautz said. "Meanwhile, current homeowners can more easily make housing trades using built-up housing equity for cash purchases or large down payments on dream homes."
Housing has remained a key issue throughout the presidential campaign, with both candidates vowing to fix the affordability crisis through different proposals. Donald Trump has promised to make it easier for citizens to buy homes by stopping illegal immigration and freeing properties for Americans.
Harris has vowed to build 3 million new homes over four years if elected to fix the existing supply gap in the housing market, as well as financially helping first-time homebuyers.
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