‘I know that there is national information out there. But, again, we are different here,’ says president of Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors
By Stefan Yablonski
Four years ago, the median age at which people purchased their first home in the U.S. was 33 years old. Now the age has increased to 40 — a record high, according to a National Association of Realtors survey of home transactions from July 2024 through June 2025.
However, things are a bit different in Central New York.
“We don’t keep demographics in regard to age,” said Dave Manzano Sr., president of the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors. The GSAR includes Cayuga, Cortland, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego counties.
“What I can at least tell you, being a broker associate, I am experiencing a little younger. If I had to put a median age to it, it would be more like early- to mid-30s. That is what I am experiencing. I am looking at the last 10 or 15 clients that I have had, buyers, of course. And female buyers, I would even put that even younger than that; late 20s to early 30s. I am also finding more female buyers are aggressive to the market than male It’s been like that for a few years.”
In its annual report of home buyers and sellers, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) painted a picture of a housing market that is dominated by older buyers who are able to make bigger down payments and pay for homes in cash. NAR reported that first-time buyers represented only 21% of the U.S. housing market from July 2024 to June 2025. That is the lowest percentage since NAR began collecting this data in 1981.
“I know that there is national information out there. But, again, we are different here. I am finding just a little younger than what the national average would be. I am finding that they are coming out a little bit younger,” Manzano said.
“The implications for the housing market are staggering,” Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist and vice president of research, said in a statement. “Today’s first-time buyers are building less housing wealth and will likely have fewer moves over a lifetime as a result.”
If people delay buying a home, they could miss out on the money they could have gained as the home’s value increases, Manzano cautioned.
According to the NAR report, close to one-third of first-time home buyers (32%) were between 25 and 34 years old, while one-fourth (25%) were between 35 and 44 years old. The NAR noted that in the 1980s, the typical first-time buyer was in their late 20s.
Rising home prices and high mortgage rates could be holding younger Americans back from home ownership, according to the NAR.
“A lot of buyers are getting a little smarter. They are not going immediately after the houses that are listed within five days or less,” according to Manzano. “They are looking at the [houses] that are now starting to be up a little higher days on the market.”
An increase in inventory
Inventory is now slowly climbing back, he added.
“The median days on the market, we are at seven. The average, we are at 23 days,” he said. “If I went to the median in the greater Syracuse Association, as of November, we are at seven days on the market. We have been kind of sitting there for quite a while actually.”
There were 7,727 new listings in November. In October it was 7,747.
“In March (2025), we were 7,273. So we are slowly climbing up,” he said. “November just dipped and generally speaking it does drop off in winter time. We are in a curve, it is good for buyers. I have a feeling that we are going to come into a pretty robust 2026.”
NAR conducted its study in July, mailing a 120-question survey to 173,250 buyers who purchased a home between July 2024 and June 2025. The sample was randomly selected to be geographically representative of sales across the U.S. NAR received a total of 6,103 responses to the survey.
