Hint: The answer starts with a 3...

Answer: 33

Questions: 

• Do you aspire to own a home someday? If so, at what age do you think you will be able to accomplish this? 
• The median age of a home buyer has risen from 28 years old in 1991 to 33 in 2021. What do you think are the factors behind this increase? 
• What are the biggest challenges in buying a home for the first time? 

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Money): 

Over time, NAR's data show the ages of first-time buyers have held fairly steady. The youngest first-time-buying age ever recorded by NAR was 28 in 1991. The highest age is 33, where it sits today. Major age swings come for repeat buyers, aka buyers who have purchased at least one home previously.

During the 2008 recession, the median first-time buying age held steady at 30, increasing by only one year to 31 in 2011. Over that same period of time, the age for repeat buyers started at 47, went up year over year and then spiked in 2011 to 53 years old. This suggests that economic downturns may have more of an effect on whether someone waits to leave their first home moreso than whether someone waits to buy their first home.

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Still a few more days left in NGPF's "Guess the CPI contest"...5 lucky classes will win $100 gift cards. More deets here. 

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April is Financial Literacy Month. Find out all the special resources created and events planned for the month on this page. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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