The short answer
The National Association of Realtors' 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers put the median age of all US homebuyers at a record 59. First-time buyers are now a median age of 40, repeat buyers 62, and first-time buyers made up just 21 percent of the market, the lowest share since NAR began tracking in 1981. The driver is affordability: high prices, 30-year mortgage rates that sat between roughly 6 and 7 percent across 2024 and 2025, and a shortage of starter homes. For Southern NH, where the median single-family home crossed $569,000 in mid-2025, that squeeze is exactly why so many Massachusetts buyers cross the border, and why equity-rich sellers near the record seller age of 64 hold the most leverage right now.
The headline numbers, and they are all records
Every fall the National Association of Realtors publishes its Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the most complete annual survey of who actually buys and sells homes in America. The 2025 edition, covering transactions from July 2024 through June 2025, set a stack of records, and not the kind anyone celebrates.
The median age of all homebuyers reached 59, an all-time high. First-time buyers hit a median age of 40, also a record. Repeat buyers reached 62. And first-time buyers made up just 21 percent of the market, the lowest share since NAR started keeping this data in 1981. Source: NAR's 2025 press release.
A few more numbers fill in the picture. All-cash buyers reached 26 percent, an all-time high, and 30 percent of repeat buyers paid all cash. Median down payments climbed too: 10 percent for first-time buyers, the highest since 1989, and 23 percent for repeat buyers, the highest since 2003. The typical seller was 64, the oldest on record, and the typical homeowner stayed put 11 years before selling. Source: NAR's Top 10 Takeaways.
How the typical buyer got a decade older in a generation
This is not a one-year blip. According to NAR data, the median age of all buyers was 31 in 1981, 42 in 2013, and 56 in 2024 before reaching 59 this year. First-time buyers were in their late 20s in the 1980s. They are 40 now. The age of the American homebuyer has climbed almost three decades in four decades.
The cause is the math of getting in the door. Home prices ran up hard, 30-year fixed mortgage rates held between roughly 6 and 7 percent across 2024 and 2025 after years near 3 percent, and the supply of affordable starter homes stayed thin. Rate context comes from Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. When borrowing costs double and entry-level inventory dries up, the people who can still close are older, wealthier, and often paying cash.
NAR's deputy chief economist Jessica Lautz described it as a tale of two cities: equity-rich repeat buyers trading up with large down payments and all-cash offers on one side, and first-time buyers locked out on the other. The first-time share of the market has contracted by half since 2007. That is the engine behind every one of these record ages.
What it means if you are buying in Southern NH
The national story is affordability, and affordability is the exact reason Southern New Hampshire exists as a relocation target. NH home costs run meaningfully below Massachusetts, the state has no income tax and no sales tax, and the drive into Greater Boston is doable from Salem, Windham, Derry, and Londonderry. That spread is why so many buyers in their 30s and 40s cross the border instead of stretching for a Middlesex County price. I walk through the full move in the honest MA-to-NH guide.
The down-payment trend is the part to plan around. First-time buyers are now putting down a median of 10 percent, and they are competing against repeat buyers who put down 23 percent and all-cash offers that close fast. Winning here is less about being the highest number and more about being the cleanest, most prepared file. That is a strategy conversation, and it is most of what I do with first-time buyers.
There is also a newer lever worth knowing about. New Hampshire's 2025 ADU law now lets you build a rentable accessory unit by right on most single-family lots, which turns a house into a house plus income. For a younger buyer, that can be the difference that makes the monthly number work. I broke down exactly what you can build in the HB 577 explainer.
What it means if you are selling in Southern NH
If you are a longtime owner thinking about selling, these numbers are quietly in your favor. The typical seller is now 64, the typical owner held the home 11 years, and that combination means most sellers are sitting on a decade or more of NH appreciation. You are negotiating from equity, not from a corner.
Your most likely buyer is also stronger than the headlines suggest. Repeat buyers are putting 23 percent down and a meaningful share are paying cash, which means fewer financing surprises between accepted offer and closing day. The flip side is that buyers are older, more deliberate, and more sensitive to price and condition, so the pricing has to be honest and the prep has to be real.
For owners ready to right-size, the same market that makes selling strong can make the next step easier, whether that is a smaller place or a different town. I wrote about that whole transition in downsizing the family home after 40 years.
The honest read
The aging buyer is a symptom, not a trend you need to fear. It tells you the entry bar is high and rising, that preparation beats luck, and that equity is the quiet advantage in this market. Southern NH is where a lot of that math finally works, which is the whole reason the border keeps moving north.
If you want to know where you actually stand, whether you are a first-time buyer trying to crack the door or a longtime owner weighing a sale, let's put your real numbers on the table. Book a free 15-minute call and bring your situation, and I will give you the honest read for your address.
