Chart of the Week
Every Friday, MBA's Chart of the Week provides commentary and analysis on a topic of interest for the industry. This comes from variety of data sources, including proprietary data from MBA's own surveys and studies, as well as from government agencies and other reliable sources of mortgage, housing, and economic data.
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Current Chart of the Week
First-time homebuyers[i] (FTHBs) are an incredibly important group to the housing market, particularly given the lock-in effect, which is causing many older homeowners to forego moves. Studying the profiles and preferences of FTHBs is key for housing analysts and policymakers focused on topics such as housing preferences, affordability, and general financial well-being. The Washington Post recently published an article examining alternative estimates of FTHB age and following the article’s release, our members have asked us our opinion regarding this data and this week’s Chart of the Week explores the Washington Post’s analysis and current FTHB data trends.
Estimates of the age of a typical FTHB vary depending on the definitions used and the data source. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR), using a mail survey with 6,103 respondents in 2025, reported that the median age of a FTHB was 40 in 2025, up from 38 years old in 2024, continuing a trend of increasing FTHB age that began in 2014, when the median age was 31.
While this data point has received numerous headlines, most large-scale data sources tell a different story. The National Mortgage Database (NMDB), based on millions of mortgage records, showed a much smaller increase, with the median age increasing from 30 to 33 through 2024, then decreasing to 32 in 2025. Data from Cotality, based on millions of mortgage applications, show that the median FTHB age has been essentially flat at 32, while estimates cited in the Washington Post article provided by analysts using American Housing Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed similarly flat trends with medians of 33 years old in 2023, the most recent data from the Census at this time.
Finally, from an August 2025 analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York using data from the Consumer Credit Panel/Equifax, the median age of FTHBs in 2016, 2019, and 2024 was 32, 33, and 33, respectively. While the analysis showed only the median age for these three years, the average age between 2014 and 2024 remained flat at 36.
On average, home prices increased more than 50 percent from the beginning of this decade to the start of 2025. Even with recent declines in asking rents and MBA’s expectations for modest home-price softening, housing remains expensive for many households, as reflected in measures like MBA’s PAPI and the greater use of FHA mortgages according to MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey data.
Addressing the affordability challenges in both rental and homeowner markets is a key public policy issue today. It is important to have a clear picture of the state of the market. Our analysis of these data indicates that the typical FTHB today is likely not much older than one a decade ago.
- Mike Fratantoni ([email protected]), Joel Kan ([email protected])