The average age of a first-time home buyer in may surprise you

For many millennials, both old and young, owning real estate feels as far away a dream as finding your soul mate on a first Tinder date. Faced with soaring property prices, sky-high student debt, and shaky job options, fewer 20-and-30-somethings are choosing to become home buyers.

The median age of all homebuyers increased to 47 years old, up from 31 years old in 1981, according to data from the 2021 National Association of Realtors (NAR) report.

To explain such a drastic age increase, The Urban Institute looked at why millions of Americans aren’t buying homes and found that, not unsurprisingly, cost played a huge factor.

Fifty-three percent of respondents reported they couldn’t afford a down payment and one-third said they didn’t qualify for a mortgage.

For millennials who did take the housing plunge, the average age of first-time homebuyers was 27 years old for young millennials (1990-1998) and 34 years old for older millennials (1980-1989).

In terms of household income, for buyers aged 22-30, the median income was $80,000 and for buyers aged 31-40, it jumped to $105,600.

Interestingly, across all age groups, significantly more single women purchased homes than their single male counterparts in 2021 (let’s go, girls!). In total, 18% of homebuyers were single women, whereas only 9% were single men.