The Average Age of First-Time Home Buyers

Personally, I am nowhere near thinking about buying a house. Lauren is still in school and we have no real need for much more space, so any home purchase for us is far off in the distance. Plus houses are freaking expensive!

The biggest thought on my mind about housing right now is that moving is a pain. Just thought of having to getting all of our furniture into a new place is scary. For the first time, I would pay someone not to have to deal with the removals.

But I started thinking about the future and wondered when I should start to get serious about buying our first home. Not that following what others are doing is a great strategy for making important life decisions, but knowing what others in my situation are doing is definitely helpful. The more information, the better.

First Time Home Buyers Are…

According to the 2009 American Housing Data survey, the average age of first-time home buyers was 34, while a report put out in 2012 by the National Association of Realtors estimates the average age for first-time home buyers at 31.

So we’ve got a good 6-9 years ahead of us before we fall slightly behind our cohorts. Hopefully it won’t take that long, though we’re pretty far away from buying anything. And in Los Angeles,   housing is crazy expensive, so buying a place of our own would mean having to leave the neighborhood we currently live in. The age at which we’ll buy our first home depends greatly on where we’ll live. If we wanted to stay where we were, we’d probably need to wait many more years to save for a down payment. But the idea of paying rent for 10 years doesn’t sound all that inviting.

31-34 sounds exactly when I’d expect people to be purchasing their first home. After graduating college around age 22, people either go to graduate school or find an entry level job. It’s not until people reach 26 or 27 that they find their groove, are able to pay off student loans, and start saving for a house.

According to the US Census Bureau, the average age of men who married for the first time in 2011 was just under 29 years old and just under 27 for women. Without a family, most people aren’t considering buying a house, and after a few years of making progress paying down debt and saving for a down payment while earning two incomes, they’re ready to purchase that first home.

Readers, at what age did you purchase your first home? When do you plan on becoming home buyers?