If you’re a home buyer in your late 30’s or more, you’re in good company. According to the National Association of REALTORS© Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the median age of a first-time home buyer in 2024 was 38. As recently as 2023, the median age of a first-time buyer was 35. Back in 2015, the median age of a first-time buyer was 31.
First-time buyers also hold a shrinking share of the real estate market. During 2024, first-time home buyers accounted for 24% of all home purchases. This is the lowest percentage of market share since NAR began tracking this data in 1981.
On the other hand, repeat home buyers aren’t getting any younger. The median age of a repeat buyer was 61 in 2024. In 2023, the median age of a repeat buyer was 58.
The aging of home buyers isn’t a surprise to economists. Home prices have been rising since the end of the Great Recession, but they spiked after the pandemic. The median sales price of a U.S. home was $317,100 during the 2nd quarter of 2020. By the 2nd quarter of 2022, the median sales price of a U.S. home was $437,700.
According to the NAR survey, last year’s buyers had to save money for a longer period of time before entering the market. About 57% of buyers reported using personal savings to help finance their home purchase. Only 12% of buyers relied on cash gifts or loans from family to facilitate their home purchase.
In a certain sense, the housing market hasn’t been “balanced” in decades. Residential single-family homes, for better or worse, are now a Wall Street asset class, with investors holding thousands of homes as rentals. And years before the Great Recession’s housing bust, the real estate market was juiced by easy-money mortgages, which created speculative home buying and speculative home building.
One would have to return to the 1990’s to get an idea of how a balanced real estate market used to behave, when home inventory stood around 6 months of supply, and mortgage interest rates were between 7% and 9%. The U.S. median home price in 1995 was $114,600. It was a very different market, but it wasn’t a rose garden for home buyers. The Internet was in its cradle days, without the buyer resources that are now commonplace online. Listing agents controlled real estate market information, and buyers were at a serious disadvantage.
In short, what a “normal” real estate market used to be, may look very different from the normal market of the future! The best advantage you can give yourself as a home buyer is the representation of an Exclusive Buyer’s Broker. We explain how we save you money and protect your best interests in our free e-book, “How to Buy a Home like a Pro!” You can download it today without any cost or obligation by visiting our website.
As Exclusive Buyer’s Brokers, we serve your best interests at all times! Unlike real estate agents and brokerages who represent sellers, as an Exclusive Buyer’s Broker, we only represent you, the buyer, getting you the best price and terms with no conflict of interests.
Understanding this distinction could literally save you thousands of dollars not only on the purchase price and terms, but also on seller concessions and home inspection issues, whether you are a first-time homebuyer or an experienced homeowner!
Contact us with your home buying questions! Remember, we are with you every step of the way…all the way home!
Andrew Show
Exclusive Buyer’s Broker, CEBA-M, MCNE, CSP, PSA,e-PRO, CREM, ABRM, AHWD
Buyer’s Resource Realty Services www.BuyersHome.com
Serving Metro Columbus, Ohio with Exclusive Buyer’s Agents
7100 North High Street, Suite 204, Worthington, Ohio 43085
614-888-4110 | 888-888-4110 Toll Free | 614-839-4110 Fax
