Older Homeowners and Repeat Buyers Dominate the 2026 Housing Market

What the report measured

The National Association of REALTORS® surveyed households that closed deals between July 2025 and June 2026 and saw the market skew older. The typical home seller was 63 this year, up from a median of 47 in 2005. Returning buyers remained at an all-time high median age of 62, unchanged from last year.

Jessica Lautz, NAR's deputy chief economist, put it simply: "Repeat buyers are driving the housing market." She adds, "Unlike first-time home buyers, repeat buyers have seen their housing equity grow rapidly over the past decade, enabling them to trade up for larger homes or move into more desirable locations. These are often moves by choice rather than necessity."

Home equity is reshaping deals

Longer holding periods have amplified equity. Because sellers stayed in their homes for a record 12 years before listing, they built more wealth and, after selling, often traded up to newer, larger properties than the ones they previously owned.

Over the past seven years, NAR estimates the average home gained $146,000 in value. That equity is showing up in financing choices: 30% of repeat buyers paid all cash. Among those who used a mortgage, the median down payment was 19%. As the report notes, "If a repeat buyer is not making an all-cash purchase, they're making a comparably larger down payment on their home compared with past years."

Why repeat buyers are moving and what first-timers face

A growing share of repeat purchasers are retirees, and their top motivation is proximity to relatives and friends; moves prompted by jobs are becoming less common. Many are using accumulated equity to move into larger and newer homes.

Affordability pressures remain a barrier for newcomers. The median age of a first-time buyer held at an all-time high of 40, and first-time buyers made up 22% of sales over the last year, about half of their historical share.

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What this means for your portfolio

"We have a K-shaped economy, but we have a K-shaped housing market, too," Lautz says.

"When we look at who can buy homes and who is successful in the housing market, it really is the repeat buyer and the baby boomer. It's someone who's making a housing trade with a ton of housing equity. And their next home purchase may be an all-cash purchase because they have the ability to do so." In plain English: equity-rich owners are setting the pace, while first-timers struggle to keep up.

That split shapes who closes deals and where capital flows in housing-adjacent sectors.

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