The National Association of Realtors says the age of the median homebuyer is now 59. Is that actually true?
In the American Community Survey, the median age of heads of households who are 1) homeowners and 2) moved in within the last year is 41.
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The American Housing Survey also doesn't show a major run-up in the median age of average buyers *or* the median age of first-time homebuyers.
This is average, not median age, but the New York Fed finds that first-time homebuyers were *younger* in 2024 than in the 2000s. Haven't gotten older on average in nearly 20 years.
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In Agency MBS data, the majority of first-time homebuyers are age 34 and under.
That means the median first-time homebuyer is 34 or younger. Hasn't changed a lick post-COVID.
As my colleague has pointed out, Gen Z and Millennials have taken longer to achieve the same home ownership rates than prior generations.
Homeownership is indeed less common for young people than it used to be.
Just isnβt nearly as dire as NAR implies.
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Ben Glasner
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When you track actual homeownership by generation, defined clearly and consistently, you see something else.
Millennials and Gen Z are behind Boomers, but they are converging toward Gen X. Also, that gap is not nearly as big.
New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel data from Equifax (which excludes all-cash buyers, TBF) finds that a majority of home buyers were first-time buyers in 2023.
Overall volumes are down since the early 2000s, of course.
Sorry, this is my obsession this week. Can't do anything about it now. The train has left the station on this.
Thankfully I'm not making any claims about the affordability of homes or the wellbeing of younger generations.
Interesting, but of course is a bit of selection / survivorship bias: we know nothing about the people who would have bought, but-for (e.g.) affordability issues.
The jump in <25 first-time buyers % does seem notable though. I wonder about their demographics.
I donβt believe the average age for the first time buyer from 2000-2006 was 38. Not accurate.
Yeah now do a chart of the median that excludes people at the top who are millions of years old or wait maybe itβs toddlers buying houses but either way my previous assumptions are still correct
The divergence between average and median is interesting here because both are valid due to the constraints on the top side.
the mean rather than the median? ok, conman.