Real Estate
Typical US Homebuyer More Likely to Be Older, Single and a Woman
- Median age of buyers at all-time high of 56 in NAR 2024 report
- A fifth of the purchasers are single women; 8% are single men
High prices and borrowing costs have created a bifurcated housing market.
Photographer: David Ryder/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The age of a typical homebuyer jumped to an all-time high of 56 in the US, with many young people locked out of the housing market while older owners tap their accumulated home equity for cash purchases or to make large down payments, according to a report.
The share of first-time home buyers shrunk to 24%, the lowest in data going back to 1981, according the National Association of Realtors’ 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. The median age of a first-time buyer also reached a record of 38 — about a decade older than in the 1980s.