Older millennials are starting to act like boomers in the housing market-and pulling away from them

Key Points:

• Older Millennials (ages 36-45) have become the highest-earning and biggest-spending generation of home buyers, with a median household income of $132,700 and purchasing larger homes averaging 2,100 square feet, often with children at home.
• This shift is driven by home equity gains from earlier purchases, enabling older Millennials to trade up to bigger homes, mirroring the long-established Boomer buying pattern of leveraging equity for move-up purchases.
• The Millennial generation is increasingly divided, with younger Millennials (ages 27-35) struggling to enter the housing market due to debt and financial pressures, resulting in a record-low 21% share of first-time buyers and delayed wealth accumulation.
• Baby Boomers remain dominant in the market, accounting for 42% of buyers and 55% of sellers, often moving without downsizing significantly, motivated by proximity to family and maintaining larger homes for multigenerational living.
• The traditional homeownership timeline has shifted, with the median age of first-time buyers now at 40, reflecting longer lifespans and changing life peaks; Gen X is emerging as a key multigenerational household provider amid these evolving market dynamics.