The median age of first-time buyers also rose from 35 to 38, while the share of first-timers dropped from 32% to 24% of all buyers for the year ending July 2024. That marks the lowest percentage since NAR started tracking the metric in 1981.

The median U.S. home price is now $435,000, per NAR — up 39% since 2020 — while the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has more than doubled to over 6% in that time.

An 18% down payment — the median percentage buyers put down, according to NAR — on a $435,000 home comes to $78,300. That’s a significant expense, nearly matching the annual U.S. median household income of $80,610, per U.S. Census Bureau data.