The American dream of homeownership, lengthy an emblem of stability, achievement, and upward mobility, is dealing with unprecedented challenges because the median age of the common first-time homebuyer in the US has soared to 40 years outdated, in keeping with newly launched knowledge from the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors (NAR).
A 12 months in the past, the median age was 38 years outdated, and that’s up from 36 in 2022, 33 in 2020 and 28 in 1991.
“It’s kind of a shocking number,” stated Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice chairman of analysis at NAR. “And it’s really been in recent years that we’ve seen this steep climb.”
This age milestone marks an period the place the affordability disaster is essentially reshaping the housing panorama and delaying entry to the advantages of homeownership for thousands and thousands of People.
As ResiClub editor Lance Lambert contextualized it in a press release to Fortune, this implies the first-time homebuyer in 2025 is “just as close in time to the age when they can begin early Social Security withdrawals (age 62) as they are to their high school graduation (age 18).”
The NAR’s 2025 Profile of House Patrons and Sellers, which surveyed current house transactions between July 2024 and June 2025, additionally revealed that first-time consumers now comprise simply 21% of all house purchases—a historic low.
“The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory,” Lautz stated.
This steep decline—a contraction of fifty% since 2007—has important ripple results: not solely does it delay or deny wealth accumulation for households, nevertheless it additionally means misplaced alternatives. NAR estimates a 10-year delay in homeownership might imply dropping about $150,000 in fairness on a typical starter house over a lifetime.
New Boundaries for Youthful Patrons
In the present day’s first-time homebuyers face arduous monetary hurdles. The everyday down fee is now 10%, matching the very best stage recorded since 1989. Most depend on their private financial savings (59%), however a major contingent is tapping monetary belongings like 401(ok)s and funding accounts (26%), whereas over one in 5 are relying on items or loans from household or pals (22%). This underscores how entry into homeownership has turn into much less accessible for these with out substantial household assist or generational wealth.
In stark distinction, repeat consumers, whose median age is 62, are higher positioned—typically wielding fairness from earlier gross sales for bigger down funds, and 30% should purchase properties outright with money. The result’s a bifurcated market, the place older, established owners discover mobility and safety, whereas youthful would-be consumers wait longer and danger lacking out on key wealth-building years.
As Fortune has reported, this seems like boomers beating millennials within the competitors for housing. In the event you’re 40 years outdated, it’s a must to compete with somebody your mother and father’ or aunts and uncles’ age for that elusive starter house, in different phrases.
Societal Shifts and Multigenerational Traits
The NAR profile additionally reveals that solely 24% of consumers have kids beneath the age of 18 at house, yet one more all-time low. In the meantime, the share of People shopping for multigenerational properties, the place homeowners take care of ageing mother and father and kids shifting again after faculty, has dropped to 14% from 17% in 2024.
The disaster has introduced housing coverage to the forefront of the nationwide dialog. Shannon McGahn, NAR government vice chairman and chief advocacy officer, pressured the pressing want to handle the underlying causes of the affordability crunch, particularly the insufficient provide of properties.
She referred to as for insurance policies to unlock current stock, revitalize underused properties, streamline zoning and allowing limitations, and modernize development strategies to spice up reasonably priced, speedy improvement. With out such motion, the dream of homeownership—and the social mobility it guarantees—could proceed to slide farther from attain for bizarre People.
“For generations, access to homeownership has been the primary way Americans build wealth and the cornerstone of the American Dream,” McGahn stated.
