5 Home Buyer Trends to Watch Heading Into 2025
Find out who’s succeeding in the housing market—and who may be struggling.
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, Guest Contributor
Home buyers are facing high home prices, elevated mortgage rates, and in some markets, still-limited choices of homes for-sale. Nevertheless, some buyers have still been finding a way to navigate the housing market, while others may have decided to wait on the sidelines—for now, at least.
Home buyers increasingly are still relying on a real estate agent for guidance and for succeeding in their purchase: Eighty-six percent of home buyers used a real estate agent in their transaction over the past year, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ newly released 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, a consumer survey that reflects completed transactions between July 2023 and June 2024. Here are a few home-buying trends that emerged from this year's report.
First-time buyers are getting more cautious. The share of first-time buyers fell to a historic low of 24% over the past year, according to NAR’s data. Prior to 2008, first-time buyers comprised 40% of the market. Buyers are expressing numerous challenges in becoming homeowners: Nearly half of first-time buyers say that high rent is hampering their ability to save for a down payment, followed by student loans and credit card debt. For those who are able to buy, they’re coming up with higher down payments than in years past—a median of 9% (the highest recorded since 1997). They’re also increasingly relying on others help: 25% used a gift or loan from a relative or friend for their home purchase. And it may take them longer to afford homeownership: First-time buyers are a lot older than they were in the past with the median age this year reaching an all-time high of 38 years old. That is about a decade older compared to previous generations when they were able to buy their first home.
More buyers are bypassing a mortgage. More than a quarter—26%—of home buyers over the past year paid cash for their home purchase, marking an all-time high, according to NAR’s data. This has enabled a larger group of buyers to bypass getting a mortgage, particularly as interest rates on loans soared above 7% about a year ago. Repeat buyers are leveraging the profits from a previous sale to buy their next home. Indeed, 31% of repeat home buyers were able to pay all-cash for their next home purchase.
They’re pooling their money with family members to better afford homeownership.
Multigenerational buyers climbed to an all-time high of 17% over the past year, up from 14% the year prior. “As home buyers encounter an unaffordable housing market, many are choosing to double up as families,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist. “Cost savings are a major factor, with young adults returning home—or never leaving—due to prohibitive rental and home prices. Meanwhile, elderly parents and relatives are moving in with family members as home buyers reprioritize what matters most to them.”
Newly built homes grow more appealing. Newly built homes have been gaining more buyer attention over the past year. New home purchases accounted for 15% of home sales over the last year, the highest share in about 17 years, according to NAR’s data. New-home buyers say they were drawn to new construction because they wanted to avoid renovations or problems with systems, like plumbing or electricity, and they wanted to be able to customize their home’s design features.
Watch out for the SINKs. The latest real estate buying force emerging are called SINKs—single income and no kids. Many SINKs are single females, who made up 20% of home sales over the past year while the share of single males fell to 8%. Meanwhile, the number of home buyers with children under the age of 18 is shrinking: 73% of recent home buyers did not have a child under the age of 18 in their home, the highest share on record, according to NAR’s data.
