Is Time Running Out for Millennials To Buy a House? Experts Explain

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The median age of first-time homebuyers grew from 35 in 2023 to 38 in 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors. In an analysis of that and other real estate trends, Experian noted the age increase means that fewer millennials are buying homes, and that they’re running out of time to reach the homeownership rates previous generations enjoyed.

After a nearly decade-long surge, when Redfin data shows that millennials’ homeownership rates increased faster than rates for every other generation, fewer millennials are, in fact, buying fewer homes. Their share of the market fell from 38% in 2023, when they made up the largest group of homebuyers, to 29% in 2024, per NAR 2024 and 2025 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends reports. But millennials still have plenty of time to buy. The question is, do they want to?

“Today’s millennial buyers prioritize experiences over acquiring material possessions,” Jennifer Ames, license partner and owner at Engel & Völkers Chicago, told GOBankingRates. “They want to travel, dine out and spend their money on other things.”

Millennials are also looking for flexibility.

“They are more mobile and don’t aspire to settle down, Ames added.

GOBankingRates spoke further with experts about whether time is running out for millennials to buy a home.

Among Millennials Who Want To Buy, Younger Millennials Are Struggling Most

Although 25% of the recent younger millennial buyers (ages 28 to 36 in 2025) profiled in NAR’s latest report had skipped renting and moved directly from their families’ homes into their newly-purchased homes, it’s this younger group that’s struggling to purchase. Seventy-one percent of recent millennial buyers in this group were first-time buyers, compared to just 36% of older millennial buyers (ages 35 to 44). 

“The biggest problem is affordability,” said Jeff Lichtenstein, CEO and broker of Echo Fine Properties in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. “With more inflation coming through tariffs and rates high, it makes it even harder. Worse, they’ve had higher debt through schooling.”

How Millennials Can Catch Up

Lichtenstein believes millennials can catch up, but he notes that it won’t be easy at a time when the supply of affordable housing falls 4 million short, and high rates, the impact of tariffs and rising insurance premiums and homeowners association fees are driving costs even higher. 

Ames offered a similar assessment.

“To solve the affordability challenge, we need more housing in desirable locations, and lower interest rates,” she said.

Another solution is for boomers to step up — something Lichtenstein thinks needs to happen and sees happening more frequently. In fact he witnessed it in his own neighborhood, when the widowed grandfather who lived across the street moved closer to his son after a health scare. Rather than sell his home, he gifted it to his millennial grandson. 

“I think we are going to see more of this type of thing,” Lichtenstein said. “Boomers are at the age where some are starting to pass. Rather than just selling the house, gifting it will become a real option.”

For millennials who have the means to purchase, Ames said there’s no time like the present.

“It’s a smart way to begin to build equity and diversify their assets,” she noted.

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