Allison Schrager, Columnist

Want to Buy a Home? It’s OK to Wait Till You’re 40

November 10, 2025 at 12:05 PM UTC

Allison Schrager is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, she is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.”

Increasingly an older buyer’s game.
Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg

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If owning a home is still the American dream, then it is increasingly out of reach for many young Americans. The average age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40, up from 33 just a few years ago and 29 in 1981.

To which I say: It’s just as well. Buying a home in your 20s is not the best financial goal, nor should it define the American dream of financial success.