The Death of the First-Time Home Buyer || Mar. 25, 2026
Buying your first home is one of those major milestones that your parents and grandparents probably didn't even think twice about. Now, that milestone is slipping further out of reach for the average American.
US housing prices have trapped those reaching home-buying age in the rent-cycle. Sure, demographic shifts could help, but that relief wouldn't hit for quite a while. The quickest solution would be ramping up home building, but that hasn't happened at scale. And demand hasn't dropped since the boomers are aging in place. Oh, and lending costs are getting higher, too.
It's the perfect storm to lock out first-time home buyers, and there’s no relief in sight...especially not within this decade.
Comments (37)
Globally, housing in general needs a radical rethink, for so many reasons!
Look for the innovators who are building small homes through very efficient manufacturing processes (they are popping up) and that can add an addition later. Just like AI will change some jobs very rapidly, the need for different smaller homes will find a market.
We are seeing that here in the Rocky Mountains, but banks and insurance companies are so slow to catch up!!
I honestly can’t wait for the most selfish generation to die(yes boomers, you, the first generation to have it better than both your parents and children). Frankly can’t wait to see them get to the age where they need to be in a senior care home and for there to be no staff to take care of them. Already happening but by the time we get to the boomers they will be dying alone in their homes left and right. Can’t wait!
It’s hard to get the stench of rotting corpses out of a home even if you’re a happy first time home buyer. That pooled stain will make a great conversation starter at any family gatherings minus those greedy boomers you judge so harshly.
It's really tough on first time buyers here in Australia; especially Sydney and Melbourne.
With out generational wealth the only place anyone in those cities can afford anything is to live in a one bedroom unit or on the outskirts of the city an hour from the CBD.
meh. Been the case in the rest of the Anglosphere for over a 10-15 years.
This is nothing compared to Canada. Huge mess.
Thank you.
I'd feel sorry for you but America does have a resource here that the rest of the world doesn't; trailer parks.
Trump's base.
So long story short, the US is no longer as viable a place to buy a starter home and start and raise a family for the millennials.
The topic shouldve been, the MAULING of the 1st time home buyer
Cue the VA, enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses. Seems to me there are a bunch of empty offices already available and some new ones that will come available as AI and humanoid robots puts pressure on the need for humans in the office. These vacant offices will get converted into some sort of housing complex with shared amenities.
Eh, I lived in my office for decades. Some people would call that a career. The buildings were all glass boxes filled with cubicles that got smaller every year.. Aside from converting them into homeless shelters filed with cots I'm sure it would be vastly cheaper just to tear them down rather than add plumbing, kitchens, etc., to make them habitable.
Property taxes are also a barrier. Homes in Harford County, Maryland, run around $350,000, and their property Taxes are around 1%, while Homes in Rockland County, NY, are much more expensive at around $600,000, and property taxes run at 9%.
Peter, if age in place Boomers sold their homes on contract, maybe with little or nothing down and left the income to their kids would that be a workable answer?
Used my VA benefits for a 0% down home mortgage. Soon, that may be the only way because I cannot fathom having 10-20% down on a $500k house in a high cost of living area.
Same here! I’m also disabled so I don’t pay property taxes and receive a monthly disability payment. I couldn’t imagine not having either of those things bc I’d be unable to buy a home. I stand with my generation in fighting for lower housing costs. Boomers ruined everything
Interest rates prevent people from moving. If you have a 1200 month loan at 2.9% that person is not mobile.
That's a happy problem.
Leaving out the top 5% of boomers wealthy enough to own 2 or more homes, what statistics are you citing that makes it sound like many of us have multiple homes? FYI: this is not directed at you, Peter. It was directed to the person who commented on this issue who needs to do his homework.
I could afford 300k. It's 500k where I live
The other side of this coin is the failure of wages to keep pace with living costs.
Inflation is awful, particularly for first home buyers. But half the planet is in a geopolitical crisis right now... And this is the topic? (Which has been covered previously.)
Is the daily Iran war content insufficient for your needs?
This has been the reality on the ground for a while now. Millennials haven't chosen communal living because they wanted to live in a party house. The choice was forced upon them by the economic reality not being able to afford a single bedroom apartment or condo on their own. We've all known the boomers holding tightly to their dragon hordes are partly to blame. Why again do they need second and third homes while their kids in their 30s and entering their 40s are still living with roommates? Who could have possibly foreseen that the generation that produced they latchkey generation would do this? /s Nice of you to finally notice on top of your mountain there though.
Consider that living habits are very inelastic - in most of the cases although housing is unaffordable the community living is happening very late and price signaling is not being reflected in the choices of the people
I take issue with the first part buying a house does not start building wealth. Young people are much better off putting their money in stocks. It has been proven that the house you live in is no different than renting. In Dallas 2018 prices are coming back so if someone bought in 2018 they have zero equity. Let’s keep the buyer Strike going. Do not buy into fake American dream
I think you need to go back to math class. If you were renting since 2018 you would have zero equity. If you got a mortgage in 2018, you would have paid some of the principle down on the loan, and thereby have equity. Yes your investment(your Dallas home) has not increased in value, but you have equity.
Starter homes in the 50’s&60’s were 1100sf… msny had no AC… not building those any more.
Oh, as someone who works in home construction, we are building 1100sf homes. They do have AC, better insulation, ect. The issue we have is volume and price on the supply side. On the demand side we have 7.25 as federal minimum, tariffs, 6 dollar diesel, any second now we’ll put a 300% on Canadian wood, ect. Houses cost twice what they did 20 years ago, but wages have gone up 20-60% since then… Fed min has not changed at all. What we need we’ll never get. Affordable prices, lower interest rates, income to keep up with inflation or beat it, 3-6x more homes built than we have being built now… There are more issues, but I don’t see even two of these happening.
I heard part of this story the other day on NPR. A person in the trades was commenting on the fact that the big housing developers were not building as much as they could due to fluctuations in costs caused by wild tariff swings. Go figure...
If you believe that, I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you.....those decisions would of predateed the tariffs.
Oh yeah, well… Rented a tent, a tent, a tent; Rented a tent, a tent, a tent. Rented a tent! Rented a tent! Rented a, rented a tent.
You’re too tentse my friend.