First-time homebuyers have shrunk to a record low while those looking to purchase a home are getting a lot older, a new study says.
The average age for a homebuyer peaked at 56 years old this year, seven years older than 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
“The U.S. housing market is split into two groups: first-time buyers struggling to enter the market and current homeowners buying with cash,” wrote Jessica Lautz, the association’s deputy chief economist and vice president of research, in a press release.
The same profile found that first-time buyers made up just 24% of purchasers, down from around a third the previous year. The average age for a first-time buyer was 38 years old.
“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,” said Lautz. “Meanwhile, current homeowners can more easily make housing trades using built-up housing equity for cash purchases or large down payments on dream homes.”
The median down payment for homes was 18% for all buyers and just half of that for first timers. Still, it ranks as the highest down payments percentage for first time buyers since 1997.
According to the survey, 73% of home buyers between July 2023 and June 2024 did not have a child under the age of 18, which breaks a previous record since they started collecting the data in 1981.
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