The Changing Faces of Homebuyers and Sellers in 2024

The typical ages of homebuyers as well as sellers have increased over the past year, according to the newly released 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The median age of first-time buyers this year was 38, compared to 35 the previous year. Repeat buyers were also older, with an average age of 61. That compares to 58 in the previous year.

The share of the market that went to first-time homebuyers fell to a historic low of 24%, down from 32% the previous year.

In a summary of the NAR findings, Jessica Lautz — deputy chief economist and vice president of research — says:

“The U.S. housing market is split into two groups: first-time buyers struggling to enter the market and current homeowners buying with cash.”

She notes that today’s first-time buyers face a trio of big obstacles:

• High home prices
• High mortgage rates
• Limited inventory

As a result, today’s first-time buyers are a decade older and have “significantly higher incomes” than earlier generations of buyers, Lautz says.

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On the other hand, those who already own homes “can more easily make housing trades” because they have accumulated equity that they can use for cash purchases or big down payments, she says.

Sellers also tended to be older this year than in the past. The median age of a seller was 63, the oldest ever recorded.

For its report, NAR tracked home sale transactions between July 2023 and June 2024.

Additional findings from this year’s survey include:

• Single female buyers rose slightly, comprising 20% of all buyers. On the other hand, the share of single male buyers dipped to 8%.
• Married-couple buyers increased, comprising 62% of all buyers, while the share of unmarried-couple buyers fell to 6%.
• Buyers without a child under the age of 18 in the home accounted for 73% of all buyers — the highest share ever.

The top reasons that sellers put their home on the market were the desire to move closer to friends and family (23%), the fact that their home was too small (12%) or too large (11%), and the neighborhood becoming less desirable (10%).