How Data is Collected Informs the Conclusions From It

There’s a narrative that first time homebuyer age has steadily increased over time, but the truth is exactly backwards. The story goes young people can’t afford houses because they have too much fancy avocado toast, they don’t deprive themselves enough to afford the things they really want, and get off my lawn!

It can largely be traced back to one statistic, which is produced by a the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and what’s interesting is how they collected the data. They’ve been collecting this information since 1990 and they collect it via 120 mail in survey to home buyers. Just to spell it out, they mail you a survey (that looks like junk mail) that you have to physically fill out and then (probably) pay for postage to send back.

Here’s why I’m saying this is backwards. The CCP also collects that information automatically. It includes 5% of all home buyers for the given period. Instead of increasing from 31 to 40 years old from 2000 to 2025, it’s gone from 38 down to 36. Not as significant a significant change but one I trust significantly more.

This is not to say that there isn’t an affordability crisis, there is, which they get into in the American Enterprise Institute’s article (though I don’t agree with their conclusions).

Sources:

• “FTB Age Was 40 This Year, Up from 33 in 2021—but Is This Accurate?”
• Median Age of FTB Rises to 40
• Introduction to the FRBNY Consumer Credit Panel
• Reading List 12/06/2025 - by Brian Potter