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Key Takeaways
- The typical first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old, the highest on record and up from the late 20s in the 1980s.
- High mortgage payments, rent, and student loans have made it harder for younger people to afford what was once a milestone of adulthood.
Housing is so unaffordable and younger adults are so financially stressed, most are now entering their fifth decade of life before they’re able to buy a house.
That’s according to a report by the National Association of Realtors, released on Tuesday, which found the median age of a first-time buyer hit a record high of 40 in 2025. That’s a far cry from the 1980s, when typical first-time buyers were in their late 20s.
What This Means For The Economy
The increasing age of first-time home ownership shows how the “American dream” is growing harder to attain despite the overall prosperous economy.
The report highlighted how owning a home has shifted from a standard milestone to a nearly unaffordable luxury within a single generation, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. Soaring prices combined with mortgage rates hovering between 6% and 7% in recent months have pushed up monthly mortgage, insurance, and tax payments for newly purchased houses to a median of $3,106, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. That’s nearly double the $1,597 payment in January 2020.
The soaring monthly payment is only one of many financial obstacles. First-time buyers surveyed by the NAR said high rent and student loan payments were hindering their ability to save up down payments. Little wonder that first-time homebuyers only made up 21% of home sales, a record low according to the NAR, and down from around 40% typical before the 2008 housing crash.
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