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- The vanishing young homebuyer: Median first-time homebuyer age jumps from 28 in 1991 to 38 in 2024
The vanishing young homebuyer: Median first-time homebuyer age jumps from 28 in 1991 to 38 in 2024
The median first-time U.S. homebuyer in 2024 (age 38) has been out of high school for 20 years but is also only 24 years away from the earliest age at which they could receive Social Security benefits (age 62).
Lance Lambert
February 10, 2025
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The vanishing 20-something homebuyer
Whenever an economic analyst talks about a cyclical change, they’re talking about short-term fluctuations driven by the business cycle. Whenever an economic analyst talks about a secular change, they’re talking about long-term, structural shifts in the economy. Sometimes a trend can be a little of both.
One example: First-time homebuyers keep getting older.
28 years old → The median age of first-time U.S. homebuyers in 1991.
38 years old → The median age of first-time U.S. homebuyers in 2024.
In other words, the median first-time U.S. homebuyer in 2024 (age 38) has been out of high school for 20 years but is also only 24 years away from the earliest age at which they could receive Social Security benefits (age 62).
Some of that increase is driven by how strained housing affordability has gotten over the past three years.
And some of that increase is driven by secular changes, which are happening across the developed world, as younger generations are delaying life events compared to previous generations—attending school longer, marrying later, buying homes later, and having children later.
It isn’t just first-time homebuyers: Repeat homebuyers are getting older too.
42 years old → The median age of repeat U.S. homebuyers in 1991.
61 years old → The median age of repeat U.S. homebuyers in 2024.
While delayed life events and fewer homebuyers in their 20s and 30s are helping to drive up the median age of repeat buyers too, part of the increase in repeat buyer’s age stems from the population skewing older as the giant Baby Boomer generation ages and birth rates decline.
Another factor is that older U.S. homeowners with substantial equity or even a paid-off primary residence are a little less sensitive to the recent mortgage rate shock. If they need to buy, some have taken the plunge over the past couple of years, avoiding 6% and 7% mortgage rates by simply paying all cash.
Over the past week, ResiClub PRO members have got these 3 additional research articles:
