First-time buyers made up 22% of home purchases in the year to June 2026, up from a record low of 21% the year before, according to the National Association of Realtors' 2026 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, released Nov. 5. Their median age stayed at 40, matching last year's all-time high. Before 2008, first-time buyers were about 40% of the market, so the current share is roughly half the historical norm.

Who the survey counts

The profile is a survey, not a count of every sale. In July 2026 NAR sent a 121-question questionnaire to 228,250 people who bought a primary residence between July 2025 and June 2026, by mail, text and email, and received 7,125 usable responses, an adjusted response rate of 3.1%. Results are weighted by geography, and NAR puts the margin of error at 1.16 percentage points at 95% confidence. Investors and vacation-home buyers are excluded, so the figures describe people buying a home to live in.

Cash, inheritances and age

The headline age hides two different groups. First-time buyers who financed their purchase had a median age of 38. The 10% who paid all cash, the highest share in the survey's records, had a median age of 54. Among those cash buyers, 28% used an inheritance, compared with 9% of first-time buyers who took a mortgage.

Repeat buyers, who were 78% of purchases, had a median age of 62, matching their record. The median age of all buyers fell to 58 from 59. In 1981 the median repeat buyer was 36.

How first-time buyers paid

The median first-time buyer put down 9% of the price, against 19% for repeat buyers. Personal savings were the most common source of the down payment, used by 62% of first-time buyers. Some 30% drew on financial assets such as a 401(k), stocks or cryptocurrency, 25% received a gift or loan from family or friends, and 10% used an inheritance, the highest share on record.

Repeat buyers had more to work with. Their median household income was $127,000, up from $111,700 a year earlier, and 30% of them paid all cash.

Difficulty saving remains part of the story. Among all buyers who said saving for a down payment was hard, 17% named childcare costs as a reason, up from 14% a year earlier. Among buyers with children under 18, 16% said they shared a residence partly to reduce childcare costs, up from 11% in 2025.

Who is buying

Among first-time buyers, 47% were married couples, 25% were single women, 12% were single men and 11% were unmarried couples. Five percent bought with roommates, a high for the survey's 45-year history. Across all buyers, 14% bought a multigenerational home, and 26% had children under 18 living at home, up from 24%.

The share of buyers who picked a neighborhood for its closeness to work fell to 31% from 52% in 2014, while 46% chose one near friends and family.

Agents and the search

Nine in 10 buyers used a real estate agent or broker, the highest share in four decades, and 93% of buyers of previously owned homes did. The profile names finding the right property as the hardest step for first-time buyers who completed a purchase.

Where to find the rest

NAR posts the release and its economists' list of takeaways on its website, both linked below. The figures describe buyers who closed between July 2025 and June 2026, before the average 30-year mortgage rate in Freddie Mac's weekly survey rose above 7% in late September, so the survey does not reflect the period since those rates took hold.

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