Think you’ll own a home before 40? Nearly half of Americans don’t think they will

The average age at which Americans purchase their first home hit an all-time high this year.
A report released Monday by the National Association of Realtors found that in the last year, the median age of first-time home buyers went up to 38, compared to 35 last year. That’s not exactly great news for Generation Z.
“The U.S. housing market is split into two groups: first-time buyers struggling to enter the market and current homeowners buying with cash,” Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, said in the report.
“First-time buyers face high home prices, high mortgage interest rates and limited inventory, making them a decade older with significantly higher incomes than previous generations of buyers. Meanwhile, current homeowners can more easily make housing trades using built-up housing equity for cash purchases or large down payments on dream homes,” she added.
The average income of a first-time buyer in 2023 was $108,800. To put that into perspective, the median household income in the United States was $80,610, per the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the last week of October, FreddieMac reported the highest interest rates for the month, with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of 6.72%. Add that to the national average home price of $427,496 — up 3.8% from last year — and many Americans will take to the sidelines.
A recent survey by Newsweek Vault found that 1 in 4 Americans never see homeownership in their future, and 46% of current renters don’t think they will own a home until they are 40 or older.
Key reasons people aren’t purchasing a home:
If interest rates were to suddenly go down, “65% of renters would pay down payments of 5% or less to buy a home. Of this same group, 28% said they’d go as low as 3% and 18% said they’d drop their down payment to 0%,” the survey reported.
One way people are affording the purchase of a home is by making the investment with multiple family members.
“Many are choosing to double up as families,” Lautz said. “Cost savings are a major factor, with young adults returning home — or never leaving — due to prohibitive rental and home prices. Meanwhile, elderly parents and relatives are moving in with family members as home buyers reprioritize what matters most to them.”
In the last five decades, Americans living under the roof of a multigenerational household have nearly doubled, according to Pew Research Center.
In March of 2021, 59.7 million U.S. residents lived in a home with two or more adult generations, making up 18% of the U.S. population.