Americans buying their first home last year were typically 40 years old, matching a record for the second straight year, according to new National Association of Realtors data. The figure reflects how high prices and interest rates across much of the country keep younger buyers on the sidelines.
The shift has been dramatic. In 1991, the median first-time buyer was just 28.
A growing share of newcomers to homeownership are skipping the mortgage entirely. About one in 10 first-time buyers paid all cash, and that group's median age was 54, said Jessica Lautz, the association's deputy chief economist and vice president of research. She said such purchases usually come from inheritances or other family support.
Older buyers dominate the rest of the market, too. The median repeat buyer was 62, also an all-time high in the report.
A dispute over the numbers
Not every measure shows first-time buyers aging so sharply. The Federal Reserve puts their median age at 33 for the first half of 2026, roughly where it stood in 2019, said Yanling Mayer, a research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. By the Realtors' count, the median jumped from 33 in 2019 to 40 in each of the past two years.
Lautz said counting cash sales is one reason the association lands on an older age than surveys such as the New York Federal Reserve Bank's review of mortgage applications, which by design capture only financed purchases.
Eric Finnigan, vice president of demographics research at John Burns Research and Consulting, said several surveys last year placed first-time buyers between 35 and 40 and found them getting older; he suggested the truth probably lies between the competing figures. Mayer said she was not dismissing buyers' struggles but wondered whether many are leaning on relatives and friends to get into a home.
Where homes are within reach
Affordability varies widely by region. Lautz said the AI boom is still driving up prices in the San Francisco Bay Area, while parts of the Rust Belt and states with heavy construction activity offer buyers more manageable prices.
A ranking published in June, which weighed prices against income along with new building permits, put Indiana, Iowa, South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina and Nebraska at the top. New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii and California came in last.
