Buyers for the first time have become much older. Here is why

The two -bedroom apartment of the Petersen family in Northern California is starting to feel small.

Jerrik toy monster trucks, four years, are everywhere in the unit of 1,100 square feet in Campbell, just outside San Jose. And this is just a matter of time before Carolynn, 9 months, begins to raise more toys, adding to the disarray, explains his mother, Jenn Petersen.

The 42 -year -old chiropractor hoped that she and her husband, Steve, a 39 -year -old dental hygienist, would now have bought a house. But when they can afford a larger place, it will be another rental. Petersen did the calculation: with mortgage rates and the prices of stubbornly high houses, there is no way that the couple, who earns around $ 270,000 per year and pays about $ 2,500 in monthly rent, can afford A house anywhere in their region.

According to October Federal Reserve Bank data from Atlanta, a San Jose family with a median income of $ 156,700 should spend 80% of their income for housing – including monthly mortgage payment of $ 8,600 – To have a home of $ 1.54 million at a median price of 1.54 million dollars. It is much higher than the general rule that people should not pay more than 30% of their income on a mortgage or rent.

The move of the State is out of the question for the Petersens – they have solid family ties with the region and their income would fall if they moved to a lower cost of living area. “I am not willing to abandon my work and to close links with my family for a house,” said Petersen.

The problem is widespread and close to the historical summits nationally: last fall, the median owner in the United States paid 42% of their income on property costs, according to Atlanta Fed. Four years ago, this percentage was 28% and had not reached 38% since the end of 2007, just before the accident of the housing market.

“The American dream, as our parents knew, no longer exists,” said Petersen. “The idea you get a house after your university degree, get a stable job and get married?” I did most of these steps. But the part accessible to the property? This simply does not correspond financially. “”

The owners for the first time age

The same goes for a Growing number of American families.

In 2024, the first median house buyer was 38 years old, a jump of 35 years the previous year, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors. It is clearly higher than historical standards, when median buyers have oscillated between 30 and 32 years from 1993 to 2018.

The largest engine of this trend, said experts, is simple: there are far too many houses on the market to match the repressed demand, which has exceeded prices beyond the affordability of many people who are relatively early in their careers. Coupled high mortgage rateMany have concluded that rental is their only option.

“Salaries growth has not followed the increase in prices for houses and interest rates,” said Domonic Purviance, who studies housing at Atlanta Fed. “Even if people earn more money, house prices are increasing at a faster rate.”

This gap has left many people on the housing market, which, for generations, has been a means for Americans to build equity and wealth they can transmit or operate to buy a larger house. This also led to generalized concerns for housing in the United States about 7 out of 10 voters under the age of 45, said they were “very” concerned about the cost of housing in their community, according to the vote, a survey of more than 120,000 voters in 2024 election.

Will the dream of ownership disappear?

Brian McCabe, professor of sociology at the University of Georgetown, said that he frequently said to his students that “there are few things on which all Americans agree, but one of them is that they preferred to have a house to rent ”.

McCabe said that home ownership, in particular as a tool for wealth creation, is the right decision for many, especially if the owner intends to be in the same place. But he also said that many realize that not having a house also has its advantages – this gives people more flexibility to move and allows them to live in exciting areas in which they would not be in measure to allow yourself to buy a property.

McCabe said that millennials get married later, having children later, have a stronger desire to stay in cities and, in particular because of remote work, appreciate the flexibility of being able to move easily – what He said could end the concept at the end that the accession to property is the “summit of the American dream”.

“The big question is whether we see the brilliance of the home ownership starting to fade,” said McCabe. “It is such an interesting cultural marker: why does a house have the pinnacle for so many people?”

This is a question with which Petersen fights because she knows that any three -room house that she found in her region would leave her family “poor”.

“I used to subscribe to the idea that possession of a house is only a natural step that you must reach,” she said. “At some point, however, what do you sacrifice by simply having a house and gaining equity?” I want to be able to travel with my children. I want to be able to register them in the parascolia. How are we supposed to do this if we pay a mortgage that is most of our wages to take away? »»

Petersen said that she “would always hold a little hope” that ownership will be in the future of her family. But if they find a townhouse for rent that has space for their children and is part of their monthly rental budget of $ 3,600?

“I would take that,” she said.

Some cities provide crucial help to house buyers for the first time

The life resident of Boston, Julieta Lopez, 63, spent decades hoping to buy a house, but looked at the prices more and more out of reach.

“The prices in Boston have just become higher, higher and higher,” said Lopez, who works for the city’s traffic service, issuing tickets for parking violations.

Two years ago, furious to learn that the monthly rent of his subsidized apartment was in the process of increase at $ 2,900, Lopez, who won about $ 60,000 per year, took his phone and started looking for programs government who helps buyers for the first time. She was determined to finally have her own place.

In a few months, she had succeeded. Lopez qualified to receive $ 50,000 from the premises Massachusetts Affordable Homership Alliance For non -profit and an additional $ 50,000 in the City of Boston housing office – funds that helped her with a deposit on the condominium of two $ 430,000 rooms that she shares with her 30 -year -old son. She now pays about $ 2,160 per month on her mortgage.

Lopez knows that she is lucky that City has put such an emphasis on help with new buyers as herself – Boston has paid more than $ 24 million in her ownership assistance programs since the mayor Michelle Wu took office in 2021, helping nearly 700 residents obtaining their first house houses.

But Lopez also feels proud to have his own place after years of hard work – jobs that included everything, from telecommunications to health care via electronics.

“I was determined to have my piece of pie,” she said. “I felt that I deserved that. I have always worked. Always. Nonstop. “