Fewer first-time buyers are taking the plunge into homeownership.
shows the percentage of first-time buyers hit an all-time low of 24% this year.
That’s down from 32% last year and is the lowest since the association began keeping records in 1981.
In response to this trend, the personal finance website WalletHub created a report on the in 2025.
WalletHub compared 300 cities of various sizes across 22 key indicators related to market attractiveness, affordability, and quality of life.
The data includes cost of living, real estate taxes, and property crime rates.
Flint, Michigan, offers the most affordable housing, with a median house price that is 9.7 times lower than the median annual household income. In contrast, Santa Barbara, California, has the least affordable housing.
Honolulu boasts the lowest real estate tax rate, which is 10 times lower than that of Paterson, New Jersey, where the tax rate is the highest.
Thirteen Colorado cities made the WalletHub list. Thornton ranked 16th, Arvada 23rd, Colorado Springs 37th, Longmont 43rd, Centennial 48th, Westminster 57th, Pueblo 69th, Fort Collins 70th, Greeley 77th, Aurora 119th, Lakewood 140th, Denver 148th, and Boulder 235th.
Home buyer characteristics
First-time buyers are getting older, according to the National Association of Realtors’ research.
The median age for a first-time buyer is now 38, up from 35 last year. Repeat buyers are an average of 61 years old.
The desire to own a home remains a strong reason for buyers, with 64% of first-time buyers citing that reason.
Although 73% of buyers do not have children under 18, 17% choose multigenerational living.
Those who chose multigenerational homes did so for:
- Cost savings (36%)
- Care for aging parents (25%)
- Provide room for children or relatives over the age of 18 moving back home (21%)
- Provide room for children over the age of 18 who have never left home (20%)
Home seller characteristics
The typical age of a home seller was 63 this year, the highest ever recorded by the association.
Sellers often want to downsize or relocate closer to family.
According to association research, 36% purchased a larger home, 30% bought a house of similar size, and 32% downsized.
The median number of years that sellers owned their homes was 10 years, the same as last year. This figure is higher than the reported average from 2000 to 2008, when sellers typically stayed in their homes for six years.
For recently sold homes, the median final sales price was 100% of the final listing price. This marks the highest recorded median since 2002.
Time on the market this year was a median of three weeks, which is one week longer than last year.
The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this postap preparation.
