The average age of U.S. homebuyers jumps to 56—homes are ‘wildly unaffordable’ for young people, real estate expert says

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/04/homebuyer-average-age-rises-to-56-amid-rising-homeownership-costs.html

by cnbc_official

11 comments

  1. The average age of homebuyers in the U.S. has risen by six years since July 2023 — another sign that younger Americans are being priced out of the market due to escalating ownership costs.

    The average age of homebuyers is now 56, up from 49 in 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors’ annual state-of-the-market report released Monday. That’s a historic high, up from an average age in the low-to-mid 40s in the early 2010s.

    The median age of first-time buyers also rose from 35 to 38, while the share of first-timers dropped from 32% to 24% of all buyers for the year ending July 2024. That marks the lowest percentage since NAR started tracking the metric in 1981.

    That’s largely due to rising homeownership costs. The median U.S. home price is now $435,000, per NAR — up 39% since 2020 — while the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has more than doubled to over 6% in that time.

    More: [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/04/homebuyer-average-age-rises-to-56-amid-rising-homeownership-costs.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/04/homebuyer-average-age-rises-to-56-amid-rising-homeownership-costs.html)

  2. Without equity in a prior home, it is nearly impossible for average people to buy homes these days.

  4. I had the “luck” of a family member passing and being able to buy their home at half of the market value. I locked in at ~6.8% or so. So my house payment itself isn’t terrible but, I am being bashed over the head in interest, property tax and ever increasing home owners insurance.

    Edit: for context of this article, early-mid 30’s here.

  5. And what sucks the most is that the build quality of new homes, condos, and apartments is by large fucking horrendous.

  6. The average age in the US is 39, for comparison.

    I’d like to see the breakdown on how these homes are being purchased. Are we talking about the majority of these being purchased on 30-year mortgages… for 56 year olds… or is it simply that these people have hit exit velocity on wealth and not needing to borrow money when it doesn’t make sense.

  7. They are gonna be cheap when all the boomers go and leave 2-3 houses behind.

  9. LOLs, boomers are just trading overpriced assets with each other……..I love it

    meanwhile, cheaper to rent in majority of US means nobody should be buying houses right now

  11. It seems like the solution then is to just wait for old people to die

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