Housing affordability continues to squeeze first-time buyers out of the market—but a new generation of proptech startups is stepping in to help. The founders are offering solutions to get aspiring buyers to rethink home buying and aim for timelines much faster than what they might have thought was possible.
The National Association of REALTORS®’ Tech & Innovation team recently hosted a webinar, “Opening Doors: How Innovation Is Rewriting Housing Affordability.” The session spotlighted three NAR REACH program alumni who are tackling affordability from different angles—savings and financial readiness to qualification and increasing purchasing power. REACH is a technology scale-up program created by NAR’s Second Century Ventures.
The featured startups—Foyer, Neobanc and Pairgap—are focused on the industry at a critical moment.
“We are in a housing affordability crisis,” Sharon Love-Bates, director of Emerging Technology within NAR’s Strategic, Business, Innovation & Technology group, said during the April 16 webinar. Rising home prices, elevated mortgage rates, tight inventory—especially for affordable starter homes—and higher costs of living are compounding the issues for first-time buyers.
Over the last five years, home prices have surged about 54%, far outpacing wage growth at 29%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As a result, first-time buyers now make up just 21% of the market, the lowest share since NAR began tracking in 1981. Their average age has climbed to 40. Delaying homeownership by a decade can cost about $150,000 in lost equity, according to NAR research.
Related: Tech-Driven Solutions for Housing Affordability
Rethinking the Down Payment Barrier
For many buyers, the biggest hurdle is simply getting started.
“With first-time buyers, the down payment is such a hurdle,” says Landy Liu, founder and CEO of Foyer. “There’s no dedicated place to save for a home as you would for retirement or college.”
Foyer was created to fill that gap, offering a structured savings account and financial preparation platform specifically designed for achieving homeownership. Members of the platform can set homeownership goals, track credit and build savings in FDIC-insured accounts through a banking partner. Parents also can gift Foyer savings accounts to their adult children. Further, the platform can connect buyers with vetted real estate professionals and lenders nationwide.
Goal setting is central to the platform, Liu says. “What we’ve seen is when people actually set a goal, their timeline to homeownership can shorten by up to a year.”
The platform is designed to keep would-be buyers engaged during that often-fragmented “not-ready-yet” phase—when they might drift away from initial conversations with real estate agents, Liu says. Foyer adds incentives to keep them focused, including savings rewards that function similarly to a 401(k)-style match, helping users stay committed to reaching their goals.
With more than 10,000 users across 50 states, Foyer is also expanding through partnerships with employers and real estate professionals, aiming to reach buyers early in their journey and accelerate their readiness into homeownership.
There’s an annual fee for “members,” as Foyer calls its users; that encourages their active use of the platform, Liu says. Agents who receive referrals through the system also pay a fee.
Turning Rent Into a Wealth-Building Tool
While Foyer focuses on savings, Neobanc is tackling another major frustration: Rent payments that drain aspiring buyers’ ability to save up for ownership.
“We’re really focused on addressing that gap before buying,” says Kyle Collier, co-founder and CEO of Neobanc. “It can take years of saving, reducing debt and figuring out what you can afford.”
Through partnerships with real estate professionals, landlords and housing providers, Neobanc’s payment platform turns expenses like rent and utilities into a path toward a down payment. Users can earn 4%–12% cashback on eligible payments, with a portion set aside specifically for a future home purchase.
Those funds can eventually be applied directly toward a down payment and can amount to significant down payment assistance—possibly up to $50,000—when they’re ready to buy.
The model reframes rent as forward progress, while helping users build credit and financial stability.
Collier emphasizes that this approach also creates a longer-term opportunity for real estate agents. “It becomes less about lead generation and more about building a pipeline of relationships so that when they’re ready, they’ll transact with you because you helped them get there,” he says.
Expanding Buying Power Through Co-Ownership
For some buyers, the issue isn’t saving—it’s qualifying.
Many people today don’t fit the “mold” that the current mortgage system was built for, says Nikki Merkerson, CEO of Pairgap. “Buyers may need to combine income and other assets to compete,” she says. “It’s not whether they can afford a home; it’s whether they can qualify on their own. You have people who are financially capable, but they’re still getting left out.”
Pairgap addresses that gap by enabling co-buying, matching individuals—friends, family or even complete strangers—to purchase homes together. The platform uses a financial compatibility engine to pair buyers and provides standardized legal agreements—essentially, as Pairgap has described, a real estate “prenup”—to protect all parties involved.
Launched in New York City, Pairgap is expanding into other high-cost markets through partnerships with community and regional banks. The platform integrates directly into lenders’ systems, delivering pre-qualified co-buyer teams who are financially ready to purchase a home.
The co-buying idea has been growing. Nearly 60% of renters said they’d be open to co-buying a home with friends, with 64% citing affordability as the primary reason, according to a 2026 study by Rocket Mortgage.
“The American dream may look different today,” Merkerson says. By helping buyers combine incomes and resources, Pairgap can help unlock deals that might otherwise never happen. “There are more deals that could close if buyers just had the right structure or partner,” she says.
A Shift Toward Earlier Outreach
Across all three REACH companies, one theme stood out during the webinar: Buyers need support early in the process.
Too often, affordability conversations begin only after buyers start shopping—when options are limited, and financial gaps are harder to close, Collier says. These platforms aim to engage consumers months or even years in advance, helping them build credit, save strategically and understand purchasing power sooner.
That shift also presents an opportunity for real estate professionals.
Merkerson says many opportunities are already sitting in agents’ pipelines—buyers who were previously written off as unqualified could become viable with the right structure or support.
Liu agrees, emphasizing the role agents can play in introducing tools that keep clients engaged, even when they’re not ready to buy yet.
“The best agents are the ones who stay close to renters and future buyers years before they’re even ready,” Collier says. “They become trusted advisers—not just salespeople.”
Related: Could More First-Time Buyers Make the Math Work in 2026?
