If you bought your first home during the past year, consider yourself one of the fortunate few.

By Anna Bahney, CNN Business

Skyrocketing home prices and climbing interest rates pushed the share of first-time homebuyers to an all-time low, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors. And those first-time buyers were the oldest they have ever been, as the growing lack of affordability forced people to wait longer to reach life milestones like buying a home.

First-time buyers made up just 26% of all homebuyers in the year ending June 2022, down from 34% the year before, according to NAR’s 2022 report on homebuyers and sellers. That was the lowest in the survey’s 41-year history. The share of buyers purchasing a first home has sat between 30% and 40% over the past decade and reached as high as 50% in 2009.

The age of a first-time homebuyer also rose, with the typical age reaching 36 years old, up from 33 last year. The typical repeat buyer’s age also climbed, reaching 59 years old, up from 56. Both are all-time highs.

As home prices soared and mortgage rates rose, buyers’ income dropped, the report found.

The median household income for first-time buyers slipped to $71,000 during the year ended in June, down from $86,500 in the previous 12-month period. Meanwhile, repeat buyers had a median income of $96,000, down from $112,500 the previous year.

Buyers typically purchased their homes for 100% of the asking price, the research showed, with 28% paying more than the asking price.

“For first-time homebuyers, the lack of affordability is playing a key role in holding them back from homeownership,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR’s vice president of demographics and behavioral insights. “They don’t have the equity that repeat buyers have for a down payment or to buy in cash. They have to save while paying more for rent, as well as student debt, child care and other expenses, and this year were facing increasing home prices while mortgage rates are also climbing.”

The time period covered by the research, from July 2021 to June 2022, included some of the steepest home price increases, reaching a peak median home price of $413,800 this past June. Inventory, hampered by decades of underbuilding, was at record low levels, which kept the competition to buy a home frenzied and pushed prices higher. By April of this year, mortgage rates began to surge past the 5% mark. But, after the Fed embarked on a series of interest rate hikes in order to tame inflation, they climbed to as high as 7% by late October. On Thursday, mortgage rates dipped slightly to 6.95%.

Originally Posted On: CNN Business