The median age of first-time homebuyers in the U.S. has climbed to a record of 40 as soaring prices and mortgage rates over the last few years delay homeownership for millions of Americans.

The age at which people purchase their first home has climbed rapidly since 2021, when the median was 33, according to a National Association of Realtors survey of transactions from July 2024 through June. In 1981, when the survey was first conducted, the median age was 29 years old.

NAR’s annual profile of buyers and sellers, released Tuesday, portrays a housing market in which younger, cash-strapped Americans are struggling to become homeowners while a wealthier, often older cohort is able to make bigger down payments and pay cash for houses.

The NAR warned that the loss of a decade of homeownershi

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