This led some to question whether the survey results may skew older in general, with younger homebuyers potentially less likely to complete the 120-question survey.
Still, NAR has been conducting its survey consistently for decades, and had an even lower response rate in 2024 (3.2%), when it reported the median age of first-time buyers as 38. If the responses are skewed by age, that skew would have to shift over time to undermine the overall trend.
Meanwhile, the New York Fed’s Consumer Credit Panel report is based on a 5% nationally representative sample of all credit reports going back to 1999. Consumers are recorded as first-time buyers if they show a mortgage on their credit report for the first time.
While this approach avoids the response rate issues of a survey, it has some notable drawbacks. Most significantly, and like other studies based on mortgage data, it omits any buyers who pay cash.
Perhaps surprisingly, NAR says that last year, 8% of first-time buyers used cash to purchase a home. Those cash first-time buyers may well tend to be older than rookie homeowners with a mortgage.
