2024 Residential Buyer & Seller Highlights

Homebuyer Highlights - 2024

Every year, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) surveys home buyers and sellers who recently completed a transaction. The annual report is intended to provide insights into buyer and seller behaviors, patterns and preferences. This post is intended to be a summary of some of the most interesting facts from the said report. Read along and don’t forget to share the ones you find the most insightful.

HOMEBUYER HIGHLIGHTS:

The median age of a homebuyer in 2024 was fifty-six (56) years, which is up from 49 years in 2023 and an all-time high. The age of a median first-time homebuyer increased to 38 years from 35 in 2023, and that of a repeat buyer increased to 61 years from 58 the year before.

Married couples, at 62%, continued to hold the largest market share among all buyers. The share of single females increased to 20%, while that of single males decreased to 8%. The share of unmarried couples also decreased in 2024 to 6%. It is noteworthy that 73% of all homebuyers in 2024 did not have a child under the age of 18. This is the highest share ever recorded.

As for the type of home purchased, multi-generational living is gaining popularity: 17% of all home buyers purchased a multigenerational home. This is also the highest share ever recorded since NAR began collecting data in 1981. The top reasons for purchasing a multi-generational home included: cost savings (36%), taking care of aging parents (25%), children over the age of 18 moving back home (21%), and children over the age of 18 who never left home (20%). New construction is still a very small percentage of the entire market with only 15% of buyers purchasing a new home. The remaining 85% bought a previously owned home, with 31% of them stating these homes provide better value for their money.

Single-family homes continued to be the most common home type, with 75% of all buyers choosing it, followed by townhouses at 7%.  The median square footage of a purchased home in 2024 was 1,900 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The median distance between the home a buyer purchased and the home the buyer lived in before their purchase was 20 miles. This is a decrease from 2022, when the median distance was 50 miles, but an increase from 2018 to 2021 when it was 15 miles.

As for the reason to buy a home, 22% of the buyers were pursuing the American dream of owning a home. For 43% of buyers, it was a mix of timing, luck and funding.

Majority of homebuyers (75%) in 2024 hope to live in their homes for a median of 15 years, and the remaining 25 percent indicated that they intend to stay in their homes forever.

Homebuyer Highlights - 2024

HOME-SELLER HIGHLIGHTS:

The median age of a home sellers last year was sixty-three (63) years, which is the highest ever recorded since NAR began collecting data.

Married couples continued to be the largest segment of home sellers. The market share of married couples as home sellers went up to 69% in 2024 (from 65% in 2023), which marks the first increase in four (4) years. It may be noted that 77% of all sellers did not have a child under the age of 18 residing in the home at the time of the sale.

As for the reasons for selling their homes, 23% of the sellers sold to move closer to their family and friends, while 23% felt their home was not the right size (12% stating that their home was too small and 11% indicating that their home was too large). For 10% of the sellers, their neighborhood had become less desirable.

The median number of years of ownership for sellers in 2024 was 10 years, which is the same as the year before. Compare that to the ownership tenure from 2000 to 2008, when sellers owned their homes for only six years before selling.

As for days on market before a home received an offer, 2024 sported a median of three weeks, which is one week longer than 2023.

HomeSeller Highlights - 2024

Isn’t it interesting how the characteristics of buyers and sellers change over the years. Hope you found this interesting and let me know if you would like a copy of the full report.