The share of first-time homebuyers has dropped to a historic low of 24%, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). One year ago, the share was 32%.
At the same time, homebuyers’ ages hit all-time highs of 56 years overall in 2024, up from 49 last year. NAR noted this was divided between 38 years for first-time buyers (35 last year) and 61 years for repeat buyers (58 last year).
Furthermore, NAR noted the share of married couples increased to 62% of all buyers, with single female buyers seeing a slight rise to 20%; At the same time, the share of single males decreased to 8% and unmarried couples dropped to 6%. Among racial and ethnic demographics, 83% of recent home buyers identified their ethnicity as White while 7% identified as Black, 6% identified as Hispanic, 4% identified as Asian/Pacific Islander and 3% as some other ethnicity.
NAR determined the typical homebuyer’s median household income for 2023 rose to $108,800 from $107,000 in 2022 while first-time buyers had a median household income of $97,000, up from $95,900 the prior year and an increase of $26,000 in the last two years. Repeat buyers had a median household income of $114,300, up from $111,700 the previous year.
“The U.S. housing market is split into two groups: first-time buyers struggling to enter the market and current homeowners buying with cash,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research. “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. Meanwhile, current homeowners can more easily make housing trades using built-up housing equity for cash purchases or large down payments on dream homes.”
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