Adults ages 61 to 79 continue to dominate the housing market, making up the largest group of home buyers and sellers, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ newly released 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report.
One thing they all have in common: trusting a real estate professional throughout their housing transaction. NAR reports 88% percent of all buyers purchased their homes through a real estate agent, while 91% of sellers worked with an agent.
Last year, baby boomers overtook millennials—the largest U.S. population—to become the biggest force of home buyers and sellers, proving to be a powerful backbone to the housing market. Their soaring home equity from decades of ownership may be freeing them to be more agile than other age groups who are struggling to afford higher home prices.
Baby boomers accounted for 42% of buyers and 55% of all home sellers—the highest of any other age group, according to NAR’s 2026 report.
“The housing market remains sharply divided between homeowners with equity and first-time buyers trying to break in—many of whom are younger millennials,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist. “For many younger households, affordability challenges and limited inventory are still making homeownership difficult to achieve.”
The breakdown of home buyers, according to NAR’s 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report:
- Baby boomers (1946–1964; ages 61 to 79): 42% (unchanged from last year)
- Millennials (1980–1998; ages 27 to 45): 26% (down from 29% last year)
- Gen X (1965–1979; ages 46 to 60): 25% (up from 24% in 2025)
- Gen Z (1999–2011; ages 18 to 26): 4% (up from 3% last year)
- Silent Generation (1925–1945; ages 80 to 100): 4% (unchanged from last year)
First-time buyers have fallen to their lowest share on record, comprising 21% of buyers over the last year, according to NAR’s records dating back to 1981. First-time buyers tend to largely be made up of millennials, those born between 1980 and 1998. Last year, NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report showed that the median age of first-time buyers climbed to a record high of 40 years old—up from the late 20s in the 1980s.
That said, Lautz recently told Real Estate Today that there may be openings gradually arising for more first-time buyers to get into the market. In March, they accounted for 32% of recent buyers, according to the March 2026 REALTORS® Confidence Index survey.
“We know that first-time home buyers have struggled over the last several years … but they have had slightly better opportunities this winter because mortgage rates ticked down and they saw more inventory than they did last year at this time,” Lautz says. “We know there’s a huge pipeline of young adults who have been waiting on the sidelines for many years, and they want to purchase their first home. That pent-up demand is there.”
Equity Is Helping to Make Moves Happen
For current homeowners, they’re seeing equity soar, particularly among those who’ve owned their homes the longest. For example, older baby boomers—ages 71 to 79—have the longest home tenure with a median of 15 years before selling, according to NAR’s latest report. That lengthier timeline when staying in one home has allowed them to ride the wave of higher home prices.
For example, NAR recently reported that the median existing-home sales price for March was the highest ever recorded for that month—reaching $408,800. That price growth has helped the typical homeowner accumulate $128,100 in housing wealth over the past six years alone. For baby boomers—who’ve held their homes more than double that timeframe—the appreciation is much higher.
“Baby boomers are at a point in life when they have the flexibility to move, often with housing equity to purchase their next home,” Lautz says. “In earlier days, baby boomers—like millennials today—may have moved because of a job change or the need for a larger home. Today, many baby boomers are embracing choice and moving to be closer to family and friends, to downsize or to retire and enjoy a work-free lifestyle.”
That said, older millennials—ages 36 to 45—also are leveraging home equity to become move-up buyers. They’ve comprised 15% of the homebuying share but tend to have the highest median household incomes of any other generation at $132,700. They often tend to purchase the largest homes (at a median of 2,100 square feet).
“Older millennial buyers are now entering middle age, and with that comes with a shift,” Lautz says. “This cohort is now the highest-earning generation of home buyers, buys the largest homes and is most likely to have children living with them. Those traits were once more commonly associated with Gen X buyers, who are now increasingly looking toward empty-nesting and retirement.”
Housing’s Attention Turns to Gen Z
Gen Z is starting to make its mark on the housing market, albeit still representing a small share of buyers, at 4%, and sellers, at 2%. But notably, “they are entering homeownership with the lowest household incomes and are unlikely to be married yet or to have children living in their home,” the NAR report notes.
They’re shunning traditional norms. Thirty-five percent of Gen Z buyers were single females—the highest share among all age groups. Seventeen percent of Gen Z buyers were unmarried couples, also the highest share among all generations.
“What stands out about Gen Z is how confidently they’re beginning to define homeownership for themselves,” Lautz says. “They may still be a small share of the market, but they’re already challenging old assumptions about who buys a home and when. For many of these buyers, marriage and children are no longer the defining milestones before a home purchase. The driving force is simply the desire to own a home of their own.”
Other Trends to Watch
Additional findings that emerged from NAR’s 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report include:
- Multigenerational living options: Fourteen percent of buyers purchased a multigenerational home, down from 17% last year. Gen X, ages 46 to 60, purchased the highest share of multigenerational homes at 19%. The top motivations for combining households among all age groups were to care for aging parents, for cost savings and because adult children were moving back home.
- Single female force: Females are increasingly buying solo—making up a growing share of the homebuying market. “They’re really making a lot of sacrifices to get into homeownership—and that says to me, it’s important to her,” Lautz says. “She wants to be a homeowner.” Indeed, single females accounted for 25% of recent home buyers—second to only married couples at 50%. Only 11% of buyers were single males. The highest percentage of single female buyers was among Gen Z at 35%.
- Down payment help: As home prices have surged, more first-time buyers are looking for help with the down payment. About a quarter—or 26%—of younger millennials received down payment help in the form of a gift or loan from a friend or relative. Millennials, in general, may increasingly turn to help due to their high amounts of debt, notably from student loans. About 40% of younger millennials reported student loan debt, with a median balance of $30,000, as well as 27% of older millennials with a median balance of $40,000.
- Real estate agent reliance: Regardless of age, most buyers start their house hunt online, but they cite real estate agents as their most-used information source. Younger buyers usually seek help in understanding the purchase process, whereas older buyers tend to most appreciate agents who point out unnoticed features and faults with a property.
Overall, among all age groups, home buyers and sellers value real estate agents’ negotiation skills, list of service providers and help in improving the buyer’s knowledge of search areas for homes.
