Homeownership is slipping further out of reach for young Americans, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2026 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.
The report, released on Thursday, revealed that the share of first-time homebuyers rose 1 percent year over year to 22 percent. Despite the small gain, first-time buyer activity remains near historic lows (21 percent) and 18 percentage points below pre-2008 trends (40 percent). Same as last year, the median age of a first-time homebuyer was 40 — roughly a decade older than the typical median age in the 1980s.
NAR said student loans, consumer debt, and rising living costs are delaying key milestones for younger Americans, leaving them to wait on a generational wealth transfer to make their homeownership goals happen. However, that transfer is coming at a slower pace as older Americans live and work longer.
“Affordability remains the biggest hurdle for first-time buyers,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, in a written statement. “The share of first-time buyers is still about half the historical norm of 40 percent seen before 2008, and those saving on their own continue to face high rent, student debt, and a shortage of homes they can afford.”
“The housing market is beginning to see a generational transfer of wealth. It’s not yet a tsunami, but it is changing who can buy a first home and when,” she added.
The difference an inheritance makes
Although the wealth transfer is more of a wave than a tsunami, NAR found that more first-time homebuyers are funding their purchases with an inheritance, driving the share of all-cash transactions among this cohort to an all-time high of 10 percent. However, all-cash first-time homebuyers are significantly older than their counterparts who financed their purchase, with a median age of 54 versus 38.
“There has been fodder in the housing industry about the “silver tsunami” and the impact of older generations passing their wealth to the next generation and the influence into the housing market,” the report read. “Increasingly, this is appearing in the data. This year, 10 percent of first-time buyers were all-cash buyers, an all-time high … Among those who financed, the reasons are apparent: housing affordability, the dearth of inventory, high rent, student debt, and in recent years inflation.”
“Among all-cash home buyers, they are [impacted] by all of the above factors, but also are also waiting longer perhaps for a transfer of wealth or waiting to make an all-cash purchase using financial assets and savings,” it added. “What is clear is that life expectancy has grown, and as older Americans pass their wealth to the next generation, this generation is no longer young adults anticipating a wealth transfer but rather has hit middle age.”
