The National Association of Realtors scrapped a planned cover image of a young, expecting couple on its annual survey — and replaced it with an older pair nearing retirement as the average US homebuyer has reached age 59.
“The original cover had a very cute, young couple who was expecting, and I said, ‘That’s not going to work,’” Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist, told NPR.
“We’re not seeing young couples, unfortunately, so it didn’t match.”
Instead, the cover of NAR’s “2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers” shows an older couple that appears to be in their 60s.
The switch was made in light of the survey’s findings about the state of homebuying in the US.
According to the report, the median age for all buyers is 59 while the median age for first-time buyers at 40 — both all-time highs.
The share of first-time buyers fell to 21%, a record low.
By comparison, the median age of first-time homebuyers in the 1980s was in the late 20s.
“The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory,” Lautz said in the NAR release.
She describe a housing market that can be likened to “a tale of two cities.”
“We’re seeing buyers with significant housing equity making larger down payments and all-cash offers, while first-time buyers continue to struggle to enter the market,” she said.
Only 21% of buyers were purchasing their first home, down from about 40% before the Great Recession, according to the report released Nov. 4.
Lautz told NPR that the shrinking share of new entrants shows “real problems in the housing market that need to be addressed.”
The report found repeat buyers — typically wealthier and often paying cash — now dominate the market, while younger adults face mounting barriers.
Nearly one-third of repeat buyers paid entirely in cash, and the median down payment reached 23%, among the highest levels since the 1980s.
“We see gridlock in today’s housing market,” Lautz told NPR.
The median age for first-time buyers has jumped a decade since 2005. Fewer young families are buying: only 24% of recent buyers have children under 18, the lowest share ever recorded by NAR.
Shannon McGahn, the NAR’s chief advocacy officer, said delayed homeownership carries lasting financial consequences.
“Delayed or denied homeownership until age 40 instead of 30 can mean losing roughly $150,000 in equity on a typical starter home,” she said in the report.
The affordability crisis has been driven by high prices, limited inventory and mortgage rates that hovered around 7% for much of 2025. Many homeowners who locked in low pandemic-era rates are holding on to their properties, staying put an average of 11 years — another record.
First-time buyers like Minneapolis newlyweds Eve and Cael Burdick say the numbers reflect their reality.
The couple, both 30, told NPR they’re priced out even in a market below the national average.
“There is no feasible way we could buy a house for $350,000 and then pull a home-equity line of credit to drywall the basement,” Eve Burdick said.
In a suburb of Richmond, Va., 35-year-old Sasha Skelton and her partner have also paused their search.
“Everything seems so expensive,” she said. “It makes me cautious about taking a jump where if our jobs fall out from underneath us, our house could be taken away.”
NAR’s Lautz said such stories are now typical.
“When we look at the lack of inventory for young adults to purchase what ends up being their biggest financial asset … we have work to do,” she said.
Despite the bleak outlook, NAR says demand remains strong among buyers who can afford to stay in the game.
Nearly nine in 10 used an agent — a record high — underscoring, Lautz added, how “indispensable” professionals remain in an increasingly complex market.
