Millennials and baby boomers are the dominant forces in the U.S. housing market, according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) newly published “2024 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report.”
Millennial buyers accounted for 38% of buyers, the highest share among age demographics. Older millennials (ages 34 to 43) made up 21% of that share and younger millennials (ages 25 to 33) made up 17%.
Among the other age demographics, baby boomers made up 31% of recent buyers, with younger boomers (ages 59 to 68) made up 19% of that share and older boomers (ages 69 to 77) made up 12%. Baby boomers also made up the largest share of sellers at 45%.
Gen Xers (ages 44 to 58) consisted of 24% of recent homebuyers, the Silent Generation (ages 78 and older) were 4% and Gen Zers were 3%. Furthermore, 59% of recent buyers were married couples, while 19% were single females, 10% were single males and 9% were unmarried couples. The most single female buyers were among Gen Z at 31% and the most unmarried couples buying homes were the younger millennials at 19%.
Buyers of previously owned homes made up an 87% share of the market, compared to the 13% buying new homes. Among the new home buyers, 45% wanted this type of a property to avoid renovations and problems with plumbing or electricity – in comparison, the top reason for buyers of previously owned homes was the pursuit of a better price at 36%.
The NAR report found 80% of buyers using financing for their home purchase, with younger buyers depending on their savings for the down payment and older buyers using proceeds from the sale of their previous residence. Nearly one-quarter of younger Millennials received down payment help in a gift or a loan from a friend or relative while the older millennials, Gen Xers, and younger boomers delaying their purchases for the longest stretch of time due to debt at a median of five years.
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