First time home buyers disappearing and getting older?

Old age homes

Chart R

Thanks to the combination of still-elevated mortgage rates and house prices, which, at a national level, have been remarkably resilient in the face of higher borrowing costs, America’s post-Covid housing market is looking a little strange. In 2010, first-time home buyers were behind half of all purchases. Last year, they accounted for just 24%.

With millions of younger people frozen out, America’s older, wealthier cohorts have invested in real estate, sending the average age of buyers up significantly.

In 2024, the median age of first-time US homebuyers hit a record 38 years — the highest since data collection began in 1981 — per the National Association of Realtors. Overall, the average age of an American homebuyer also reached an all-time high of 56 years last year, a 44% increase from two decades ago, while for repeat buyers, the trend was even more stark.

But it’s not just America’s homebuyers themselves that are getting older — the homes they’re buying have aged, too.

This old house

According to a new Redfin analysis, the median age of US homes sold in 2024 rose to a record 36 years, up from 27 years in 2012. And, on closer inspection, the trend might have less to do with vintage charm than you might think…