Graphic by me, created in excel. Data from FirstTimeHomeBuyer subreddit and the National Association of Realtors.

I created this graphic not to discourage or bring anyone down, but to provide a reality check vs what we see online.

Just a reminder that reddit and social media in general is not reflective of the real world at all. People only post their best. People lie or exaggerate. And many "people" are actually bots or AI.

National Association of Realtors data here: https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/research-reports/highlights-from-the-profile-of-home-buyers-and-sellers

Posted by TA-MajestyPalm

18 comments

  1. Sample demographics matter. Reddit’s demographics consistently skew younger and more politically left. Naturally, a room of younger people will have a lower median age of achievement relative to the wider population. That doesn’t mean they are “lying” or “bots”. A 38 year old who doesn’t use Reddit won’t be making a Reddit post about their first home purchase.

  2. It makes sense, buying a home is a flex of sorts, reddit’s userbase is generally about that age.

  3. Super cool! Can I ask how and over what timeline you got this data? Also, is first time home buying when people take out a mortgage and move into a home, or is it when they finally pay off their mortgage after so many years that qualifies?

  4. What’s the median age of people on Reddit compared to the median age of people in the US? 

    That probably explains nearly the entire difference there. 

    Plenty of first time home buyers in their 40s/50s/60s have probably never heard of Reddit. 

  6. *actual in the USA, Reddit is global but probably skews American.

  7. It’s as if.. people are full of shit or something.

  8. Why only use a small sample set for the Reddit data against the full 2024 data from NAR?

    If I misunderstood this then I apologize

  9. Strange that you looked at this data and concluded people lie, exaggerate, or are bots. Reddit being separate from the real world is an integral part of being on this site, welcome.

  10. Reddit *also* skews towards doomerist thinking and borderline schitzophrenic paranoia.

  11. 38? Half of americans are buying their first house after that? Fuck, dude. That fuckin sucks.

  12. Well, I fall in the Reddit norm. I bought my first house at 26, lol.

  13. Median?
    Wouldn’t average be more relevant and more accurate?

  14. Data is also probably skewed because of the average age of a redditor

  15. Do you mean to tell me that information on social media is not real??!!

    *Shocked pikachu face*

  16. It wasn’t holding off on the avocado toast, it was getting on Reddit all along.

  18. I would like to point out that the “actual” median age is heavily skewed towards people that are buying retirement homes because they want to downsize, move to a different location, or simply don’t want to pay for the house they are in.

    Both of my parents bought new homes at 65 and 67 because they didn’t want to retire where they currently lived (mom) and didn’t want to pay upkeep on the house they had due to size (dad).

    In my dad’s case, he also bought a house as a rental when he was 55. Really, the median first time buyer is the data point that matters and the median if all buyers is totally irrelevant to housing discussions.

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