Forty-year-old buyers are purchasing forty-year-old homes. That convergence—where the median age of first-time buyers now matches the median age of America's owner-occupied housing stock—isn't just a coincidence. It's a collision.
According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 40 is the average age of today's first-time homebuyer—the oldest on record. It's also the median age of America's owner-occupied housing stock.
By the Numbers: America's Aging Housing Stock
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Average first-time homebuyer age | 40 years old |
| Median age of U.S. owner-occupied homes | 40 years |
| Homes built before 1980 | 48% of inventory |
| Homeowners who say costs exceeded expectations | 81% |
Nearly half of the homes on the market today were built before 1980—before modern energy codes, before we understood indoor air quality, and before climate resilience became a daily concern. That 1978 colonial your clients are touring might have minimal wall insulation, an HVAC system that's never been properly sized for the house, and an electrical panel running at capacity before they plug in anything new.
None of this shows up in standard MLS fields. Often, the seller doesn't even know the details. And until now, there's been no standardized way to organize this information—or to surface it early, when it can actually be managed.
The Information Gap Everyone Inherits
Real estate has always been about price, location, and aesthetics. But the things that determine how a home actually lives—operating costs, comfort, air quality, resilience—remain largely invisible. They typically don't enter the conversation until the inspection report lands.
According to Real Estate Witch's 2025 Cost of Homeownership Survey, 81% of homeowners say their costs were higher than expected after purchase.. Nearly half didn't accurately estimate repairs. The problem isn't naive buyers—it's that the market doesn't surface this information until exactly the wrong moment.
My background is in construction and remodeling, so I see what most agents miss — the invisible stuff behind the walls. A bungalow in Chicago might look beautiful in photos, but if nobody’s touched the insulation or updated the mechanicals in 40 years, that buyer is inheriting decades of deferred maintenance that will directly influence what that home is like to live in every day. The earlier we can surface that information, the better the outcome for everyone.
