November 9, 2025
I promise I am not trying to pile on here with more bad news — but it turns out the housing market is really in the bad place too. None of this is good for the US economy.
According to two new reports — we just had the lowest home turnover rate in almost 30 years and the typical age of a first time homebuyer climbed to an all time high. Meaning – fewer and fewer young people are able to even get into a home.
Ok – so first – let’s talk about first time homebuyers. According to the National Association of Realtors the median age for a first time homebuyer in this country is 40. 40 years old! In the 1980s, the typical first-time home buyer in the United States was in their late 20s. So what is holding young people back from buying their first home? Well – I don’t have to tell young people the answer – they already know – but for some of you older folks who can’t understand what’s going on with young people these days – the National Association of Realtors says high rent and student loan debt are preventing those first time homebuyers from saving enough to afford a home. The report found the median down payment for those first time homebuyers is 10%– which matches the highest level ever recorded in 1989. NAR says the 40-year olds who are finally getting into their first home used mostly their personal savings to afford the down payment. But they also used their financial assets like stocks and crypto and more than 20-percent of that down payment came from gifts or loans from family and friends.
And it’s not all rainbows and puppy dogs for people who can afford to buy a house or people who are trying to move to a different house. According to a recent report from redfin, only about 28 out of every 1000 homes changed hands between January and September of this year. That is the lowest US home turnover rate since the 1990s. This means people are staying put. Which is not great. But why? Well – according to redfin’s report there are three reasons. And I bet you can guess the number one reason. If you said you can’t afford to buy a house – you get a cookie. Redfin says affordability challengers are keeping buyers on the sidelines because home prices are nearing record highs and borrowing costs are just adding to the pain. But people who want or need to sell are stuck too – why? I’ll give you one guess…come on – I know you know this answer. If you said because they’re holding on for dear life to that pandemic era super low mortgage rate – you get a cookie. Redfin says sellers are not willing to give up their two or three percent mortgage rate so they’re just staying in their homes. And that leads me to the last reason why redfin says buyers and sellers are staying put – economic uncertainty. In this economy – redfin’s report found people are worried about their job security and inflation and the overall instability that causes.
But interestingly enough – the national association of realtors found — of those 40-year old first time homebuyers – of course married couples made up 50%– that makes sense – you need two incomes in this housing market. But the number two group which made up 25% of the first time homebuyer group – were single women. Single men made up just 10%.
So whose doing well? And who is actually buying homes? N-a-r says – by far – it’s repeat buyers who take their significant housing equity to make larger down payments on another home or pay all cash. The report found the median age of those repeat homebuyers was 62 years old.
Read the 1st Time Homebuyer report from National Assoc. of Realtors here and here.
Read the Home Turnover Rate plummet from Redfin here.
