First time homebuyers are getting older, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.
The median age of someone buying their first home has reached 40 years old, the survey found. That's up significantly from previous decades: in the 1980s, those buying their first home were late in their 20s.
High rent and student loan payments were the biggest hurdles keeping people from buying a home earlier. Interest rates above 6.6% and a limited supply of available homes also contributed to delays.
First time homebuyers as a whole now make up a historically low 21% of the housing market. A quarter of this cohort is single women, while 10% are single men. Half of those buying their first home are a married couple.
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The market these buyers enter is getting squeezed from multiple directions.
Many homes, especially newly built ones, remain unaffordable for many buyers.
In August, there were 124,000 new, completed homes for sale, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That's a level the U.S. hasn't seen since the financial crisis in 2009.
And the Trump administration in October added a 10% tariff on imports of timber and lumber and a 25% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and some furniture.
Experts say this will likely cause homebuilders to build fewer new homes.
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