The housing affordability crisis is so bad that the average American first-time homebuyer is 40 years old | Fortune

A year ago, the median age was 38 years old, and that’s up from 36 in 2022, 33 in 2020 and 28 in 1991.

“It’s kind of a shocking number,” said Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research at NAR. “And it’s really been in recent years that we’ve seen this steep climb.”

This age milestone marks an era where the affordability crisis is fundamentally reshaping the housing landscape and delaying access to the benefits of homeownership for millions of Americans.

As ResiClub editor Lance Lambert contextualized it in a statement to Fortune, this means the first-time homebuyer in 2025 is “just as close in time to the age when they can begin early Social Security withdrawals (age 62) as they are to their high school graduation (age 18).”

The NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, which surveyed recent home transactions between July 2024 and June 2025, also revealed that first-time buyers now comprise just 21% of all home purchases—a historic low.

“The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory,” Lautz said.

This steep decline—a contraction of 50% since 2007—has significant ripple effects: not only does it delay or deny wealth accumulation for families, but it also means lost opportunities. NAR estimates a 10-year delay in homeownership could mean losing about $150,000 in equity on a typical starter home over a lifetime.

New Barriers for Younger Buyers

Today’s first-time homebuyers face arduous financial hurdles. The typical down payment is now 10%, matching the highest level recorded since 1989. Most rely on their personal savings (59%), but a significant contingent is tapping financial assets like 401(k)s and investment accounts (26%), while over one in five are depending on gifts or loans from family or friends (22%). This underscores how entry into homeownership has become less accessible for those without substantial family support or generational wealth.

In stark contrast, repeat buyers, whose median age is 62, are better positioned—often wielding equity from previous sales for larger down payments, and 30% can buy homes outright with cash. The result is a bifurcated market, where older, established homeowners find mobility and security, while younger would-be buyers wait longer and risk missing out on key wealth-building years.

As Fortune has reported, this looks like boomers beating millennials in the competition for housing. If you’re 40 years old, you have to compete with someone your parents’ or aunts and uncles’ age for that elusive starter home, in other words.

Societal Shifts and Multigenerational Trends

The NAR profile also shows that only 24% of buyers have children under the age of 18 at home, yet another all-time low. Meanwhile, the share of Americans buying multigenerational homes, where owners care for aging parents and children moving back after college, has dropped to 14% from 17% in 2024.

The crisis has brought housing policy to the forefront of the national conversation. Shannon McGahn, NAR executive vice president and chief advocacy officer, stressed the urgent need to address the underlying causes of the affordability crunch, namely the inadequate supply of homes.

She called for policies to unlock existing inventory, revitalize underused properties, streamline zoning and permitting barriers, and modernize construction methods to boost affordable, rapid development. Without such action, the dream of homeownership—and the social mobility it promises—may continue to slip further from reach for ordinary Americans.

“For generations, access to homeownership has been the primary way Americans build wealth and the cornerstone of the American Dream,” McGahn said.