For many years, the common refrain among housing observers was, “when are Millennials going to start buying homes?” As it turns out, they’ve been buying homes for quite a while now. More homes than any other age group, in fact.
For the seventh year in a row, Millennials dominated the housing market, outpacing all other generations. According to new data from the National Association of Realtors, Millennials accounted for 37% of all home purchases in between June 2019 and June 2020 (the period covered by NAR’s report).
Millennials have led the way in home buying in every year since 2014, according to NAR.
Both “Younger Millennials” and “Older Millennials” were buying homes by the truckload. According to NAR’s report, home buyers 31 to 40 years old (Older Millennials) bought 23% of all homes, while home buyers aged 22 to 30 years (Younger Millennials) bought 14% of all homes.
According to the report, 82% of Younger Millennials and 48% of Older Millennials were first-time homebuyers.
Gen X buyers (aged 41 to 55) made up the next largest segment of the home buying population. According to the report, 24% of the home buyers were Gen X.
Next up was “Young Baby Boomers,” which NAR defines as people between 56 and 65 years of age. According to the report, Young Baby Boomers accounted for 18% of home buyers, while “Older Baby Boomers” (buyers ages 66 to 74) made up 14% of home buyers.
The Silent Generation (buyers between 75 and 95 years old) were the second smallest share of home buyers, at just 5%.
The smallest share of home buyers was Gen Z (ages 21 and under) at 2% of the total.
One big thing standing in the way of all home buyers way the lack of homes for sale. According to the report, more than half of home buyers said that “finding the right property” was the most challenging part of the home buying process.