Shocking News from the National Association of Realtors

For the past year, Patrick, Troy, and I have been wondering why more players in the leagues we sponsor have not been ready to buy their first homes. Anecdotally, fewer of the young women and men we talked to seemed to feel they could not commit to buying a home. The latest report from the National Association of Realtors backs up our observation.

 In the last year, the median age of a first-time homebuyer climbed to an historic high of 40 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors’ 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. In addition, the share of first-time home buyers dropped to a record low of 21%. In the 1980s, when I bought my first condo at 22 years old, the typical first-time homebuyer was in their late 20s.

 This historically low share and the increasing age of first-time home buyers have enormous consequences for both the market and young adults. For generations, access to homeownership has been the primary way to build wealth. Delaying homeownership from 30 to 40 years old can mean losing roughly $150,000 in equity on a typical starter home. 

When I sold my condo 6 years after we bought it, I had the money to buy a townhouse. And then 6 years later, we sold the townhouse and then had the down payment for a single-family home, where we raised our family for 30 years. If we had waited to buy our first home at 40 years old, we would not have had the equity from the condo and then the townhouse to provide the down payment and the opportunity to buy the single-family home.

 The good news is that now is a great time for first-time homebuyers to enter the housing market in the DMV. As Patrick explained last week, the housing market has shifted in favor of buyers. This past weekend, two clients put in offers on houses that had been sitting on the market, and prices had dropped from the original list price between 10 and 20%! Condos are especially priced lower than I have seen in many years. 

Please contact us if you would like to take advantage of this buyer’s market.