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The Washington Post
Older buyers are prevailing in America's hot housing market. This year, the median age for a repeat buyer — someone who has bought a home before — was 58, according to data released Monday by the National Association of Realtors®. That's down just a smidgen from last year's record of 59, but it's up significantly from 36 years old in 1981, when NAR began conducting its survey. Nowadays, first-time buyers make up 32 percent of the market, well below an average of 38 percent since 1981, according to NAR. They're also more likely to be in their mid-30s today, in contrast to their late 20s in the early 1980s. And in the meantime, a new picture is emerging of the buyers who still find a way to get a house: They're older, and because many of them sold a home before buying, they're also wealthier. "We are still talking about an incredibly difficult market for first-time buyers to enter, even if there's slightly less competition," said Jessica Lautz, the deputy chief economist at NAR. "If there's a multi-offer situation, an all-cash buyer or someone who has a lot of equity is likely to win. And that person is going to be older."