Many baby boomers are purchasing homes entirely with cash, according to a real estate economist.
Baby boomers (aged 60 to 78) are back as the largest generational group of American home buyers, replacing millennials (aged 26 to 44).
The baby boomer generation is responsible for 42 percent of all home buyers, while millennials fell to just 29 percent—a drop of almost 10 percent from last year, according to a new report by the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR).
Generation X buyers (aged 45 to 59) account for almost 25 percent of home sales.
“What’s striking is that half of older boomers and 2 out of 5 younger boomers are purchasing homes entirely with cash, bypassing financing altogether,” Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, said in a statement sent to The Epoch Times.
The statistics emanated from an NAR July 2024 survey sent to almost 168,000 recent home buyers. It also found that more than 90 percent of buyers aged 44 and younger financed their home purchase, while 27 percent of younger millennials (aged 26 to 34) reported using a gift from family or friends to help with their down payment. About 25 percent of that group also moved directly from a family member’s home upon buying.
The number of first-time homebuyers was down this year by almost 10 percent, with 71 of first timers comprised of younger millennials, while older millennials tended to be repeat buyers. “Older millennials are buying bigger and newer homes with larger down payments than their younger counterparts,” Lautz said.
Bianca D’Alessio, an associate broker with Nest Seekers International in Manhattan, told The Epoch Times that baby boomers are also dominating the greater New York Metro area market.
“This goes beyond the empty nester trend—we’re seeing so many multi-generational purchases involving grandparents and parents with young people children now sharing the same household,” she said.
“There’s an affordability crisis with younger generations, so now boomers are selling their large homes and buying property together with their adult children.”
Many baby boomers are downsizing and pooling funds with their children to purchase single-family homes, townhomes or three-bedroom condos.
By Mary Prenon
