First-Time Homebuyers Are Older Than Ever As Affordability Crisis Takes Toll

The typical age of first-time homebuyers reached a record high in 2025, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The median age of a first-time home buyer rose to 40 in 2025, up from 38 in 2024, according to the NAR’s Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers released Tuesday. The median sale price of a home currently stands at $410,800 — up more than 25% since 2019 — while the average 30-year mortgage rate is roughly double what it was in late 2021.

As recently as 2021, the median age for first-time buyers was 33, according to the NAR. In 1981, when the survey was first conducted, the median age was just 29.

Over the past year, first-time buyers accounted for only 21% of the market, the lowest share since the NAR began collecting data. The NAR warned that delaying homeownership until age 40 instead of 30 could cost Americans roughly $150,000 in equity on a typical starter home.

“The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory,” said NAR Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Jessica Lautz. “The share of first-time buyers in the market has contracted by 50% since 2007 – right before the Great Recession. The implications for the housing market are staggering.”

“Today’s first-time buyers are building less housing wealth and will likely have fewer moves over a lifetime as a result,” Lautz added.

The NAR surveys collected 6,103 responses from buyers who purchased a home for their primary residence between July 2024 and June 2025.

Housing affordability has become a growing focus for the Trump administration, with only 28% of homes on the market affordable for the average household, according to Realtor.com. President Donald Trump has urged the Federal Reserve to adopt aggressive rate cuts to ease borrowing costs and stimulate the economy.

The Federal Reserve announced its second quarter-point interest rate cut of the year on Wednesday, reducing the target range to 3.75%-4.00%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated, however, that another rate cut in December is not a “foregone conclusion.”

Mortgage rates — though not set directly by the Fed, but influenced by its actions — fell in anticipation of the move. As such, analysts caution that further modest cuts may have only a limited effect on borrowing costs.

Beyond pushing for lower interest rates, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in September that the administration may declare a national housing emergency, while the president has also floated ideas like eliminating capital gains taxes on home sales.

“[The data] show exactly why Trump’s Emergency Declaration on Housing is so needed at this time,” David Metzner, managing partner of ACG Analytics, an independent research firm, told the Daily Caller News Foundation, adding that all levels of government should prioritize lowering lumber costs, zoning reform and labor availability. “The NAR report demonstrates the generational need for this emergency Executive Order.”