Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
NAR's November 5, 2026 buyer survey puts first-time buyers at 22% of purchases, up from 21%, with median age 40. A record 10% of first-time buyers paid cash; inherited wealth was particularly prominent among those purchasers. The survey covers primary-residence transactions from July 2025 through June 2026.
First-time homebuyers accounted for 22% of primary-residence purchases in the latest annual survey from the National Association of Realtors, barely above last year’s record low of 21%. The median age of a first-time buyer remained 40, and a record 10% of first-time buyers purchased without a mortgage.
The findings, released November 5, describe purchases made from July 2025 through June 2026. They are survey estimates for successful buyers, not a count of every household trying to enter the market.
Among first-time buyers who paid cash, 28% reported using an inheritance, compared with 9% of first-time buyers who financed. The typical all-cash first-time purchaser was 54 years old; the median age for first-time buyers using financing was 38. The contrast suggests that the financial circumstances of people entering ownership differ sharply even within the same first-time-buyer category.
Equity and inherited wealth shape who can buy
The survey puts repeat buyers at 78% of purchases, with a median age of 62 and a median down payment of 19%. Thirty percent of repeat buyers paid cash. For first-time purchasers, the median down payment was 9%, while 62% cited personal savings as a down-payment source, 30% cited financial assets, and 25% cited gifts or loans from relatives or friends. Respondents could identify more than one source, so those percentages should not be added together.
The longer-run comparison is stark: before the 2008 financial crisis, first-time buyers typically represented roughly 40% of purchases, according to NAR. Today’s market remains tilted toward people who already own property and can use accumulated equity to finance another purchase. The small increase in the first-time share this year is too modest to establish a broad recovery in access to ownership.
What the survey measures
NAR surveyed buyers of primary residences, excluding investor and vacation-home purchases. It received 7,125 responses to its 2026 survey, with an adjusted response rate of 3.1%. The association reports a margin of error of approximately 1.16 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. That is important when interpreting a one-percentage-point change in first-time-buyer share: the survey alone does not prove a statistically meaningful improvement.
For mortgage lenders, the findings help explain why products aimed at modest down payments coexist with a growing pool of cash buyers. For agents, they point to very different client needs among younger financed purchasers and older buyers entering ownership with inherited assets. Neither group should be treated as representative of all households priced out of the market.
The original NAR analysis also reports that 90% of buyers used an agent or broker and 92% of sellers used an agent, underscoring the continuing role of representation even as the pool of purchasers changes.
Simple Content Summary
NAR’s November 5, 2026 buyer survey found that first-time buyers represented 22% of primary-residence purchases, while 10% of first-time purchasers paid cash, a record. The median first-time buyer age remained 40, highlighting how affordability and inherited wealth affect access to homeownership.
