As a percentage of all buyers, first-time homebuyers reached 47 percent during the past year, its highest market share on record, according to a study released at the 2009 Realtors® Conference & Expo.
The 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is the latest in a series of national NAR surveys evaluating demographics, preferences, marketing and experiences of recent homebuyers and sellers.
Paul Bishop, NAR vice president of research, said several factors have been at play.
“Tax incentives, record high affordability conditions and pent-up demand brought a record share of first-time homebuyers into the market,” Bishop says. “These buyers are critical to housing and a general economic recovery because the market always heals from the bottom up – they absorb inventory, free existing owners to make a trade, and stimulate related goods and services.”
The number of first-time homebuyers rose to 47 percent of all home sales from 41 percent of transactions in last year’s study, and was the highest on record dating back to 1981. The previous high was 44 percent in 1991.