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The median age of homebuyers in the U.S. is a venerable 59 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That could be good news for prospective landlords.
According to NAR data, the median age for first-time homebuyers—which accounted for 21% of all deals in the U.S.—was 40 years old in 2025, the highest in the history of its survey. Repeat buyers have a median age of 62, making the median age of all buyers just shy of the big 6-0.
Affordability Is Stripping Younger Buyers of Homeownership
Affordability is stopping younger buyers from stepping onto the property ladder. High home prices, interest rates, insurance, and the need to save for a down payment are major stumbling blocks.
Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, said in the report:
“The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory. The share of first-time buyers in the market has contracted by 50% since 2007—right before the Great Recession. The implications for the housing market are staggering. Today’s first-time buyers are building less housing wealth, and will likely have fewer moves over a lifetime as a result.”
Older Buyers Are Trading In Equity to Buy
That’s leaving the market wide open for older buyers to trade in equity for new purchases. “Unfolding in the housing market is a tale of two cities,” Lautz explained. “We’re seeing buyers with significant housing equity making larger down payments and all-cash offers, while first-time buyers continue to struggle to enter the market.”
According to Reuters, citing data from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas, along with other housing analysts, the lull in homebuyers from a wider demographic is likely to continue until 2027.
“With the labor market looking more strained, housing demand will remain soft, though we could start to see some forced sellers, who can no longer keep up payments, if unemployment rises,” said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING. “It may be that we get a bit of a house price correction over the next six to 12 months or so. Even so, buying a home is going to be out of most young Americans’ reach for quite some time.”
It’s a marked difference from 1981, when NAR first started tracking the median of first-time homebuyers, which was 29.
What This Means for Investors
For investors of all stripes—from mom-and-pop buyers of single-family and small multifamily homes to institutional Wall Street players— t means the rental market will remain in high demand. Millennials and Gen Zers are likely to keep renting well beyond the age when other buyers have traditionally bought. Even starter homes are out of reach for many.
“The idea of move-up buyers, I think we’re sort of done with that,” Suzy Minken, an agent with Compass who works in both New Jersey and northern Virginia, told Business Insider. “It doesn’t really happen. People that I’ve sold homes to over the years, no one’s moving up to get a bigger home.”
This correlates to NAR data, which shows that, for the median time period, homebuyers are expected to stay in their homes for 15 years, a marked increase from 2000-2008, when the expectancy was around six years. This means there are likely to be fewer homes on the market, keeping prices high and more people renting.
Strategies for Investors
So what’s a real estate investor to do in such a market? Here are some strategies to consider.
Plan for the long haul
Knowing that there will likely be many renters for a long time means landlords can plan their investments for the long term. While it’s essential to generate as much cash flow as possible, knowing that tax advantages, appreciation, and equity paydown will continue to bolster the viability of owning a rental over the years is a reason to buy sooner, not later, even if it means the cash flow is not necessarily where you want it to be at the start due to higher interest rates. They will eventually come down, enabling owners to refinance.
It’s also a reason, if an investor can afford it and has liquidity to cover expenses, to invest in better neighborhoods that generally show ongoing appreciation and stable tenant profiles, as residents wish to live in good school districts.
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Durable, mid-priced rentals will continue to be in high demand
In a recent report from Goldman Sachs, available rentals and those for sale are the lowest in decades, and the rent-to-income ratio of today is at its highest level since 1980. This means many renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Thus, durable, mid-priced rentals in solid, not luxury, locations that offer affordability for tenants are likely to yield high demand.
Don’t compete with Wall Street
Smaller mom-and-pop investors have a distinct advantage over REIT-funded corporate landlords and built-to-rent communities, because they can offer lower-priced rentals. So for smaller landlords—who make up 90% of single-family rentals—staying in areas of rental affordability, where they can still cash flow while buying at a modest price, is an ideal combination. According to data from Realtor.com, that’s in the Midwest and South.
Design a product for long-term tenants
Tenants across all demographics are choosing to rent for longer. “Renting today isn’t just for young adults starting out,” Nadia Evangelou, a senior economist for NAR, told Business Insider. “It’s actually a much more mixed picture. Over the past decade, we have seen more older millennials and Gen Xers staying in rentals longer, and even some boomers, for example, opting to rent later in life.”
Tenant comfort and compatibility will keep them renting for longer. That means ensuring units have AC; washer/dryers; practical, durable surfaces; reliable maintenance; easy-to-use digital payment portals; and predictable and affordable rental increases.
Final Thoughts
Forget internet gurus telling you to scale and retire fast or lenders offering exotic loan products that will keep you leveraged to the gills. Renters aren’t going anywhere, so lean into being a landlord, and remove as much risk from your investment strategies as you can, so you can sleep at night. That means cutting expenses by shopping for insurance, landscaping, and any other costs that aren’t nailed down, including management, if necessary.
Retiring rich with passive income is everyone’s goal. Still, the reality is that real estate investing is all about playing the long game, and you don’t want to be stressed out while playing.
Recent NAR figures on older homeowners indicate that the landlording business will remain a rock-solid investment vehicle for years to come. As investors, you must gauge your strategy based on your liquidity, available time, and market research into regions with long-term upside.
