Home buyers are facing ever-increasing affordability challenges, and one real estate broker and reality television star says that newer generations may never reach the American dream.
“You have to understand that your baseline starts right now. We are not going back anywhere. We’re not going back to the rates and the market we had in 2021. We’re not going back to 2015. We’re also not going back to 1991,” Serhant Founder and CEO Ryan Serhant told Fox News Digital, expressing that he hopes his young daughter will “figure it out” by the time she’s ready to own a home.
“The old baseline of affordability where the median-income buyer could reasonably plan to own a house, I think, is gone for most of the country,” he added.
(Video Credit: Fox News Digital)
“Last month, the National Association of Realtors released its 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, which found the median age of first-time homebuyers rose to a record 40 years old — the highest ever recorded. The report attributed the change to limited housing inventory and longer saving and search periods,” Fox Business reported.
Serhant noted that data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that rising birth rates are now coming from mothers aged 30 or older.
“There is a cost of living for everybody. You’re either paying rent, or you’re paying property taxes, you know, you’re paying interest on loans. And sure, if you’re making a big bet on appreciation, which we do in our business all day long, it is much better to own than it is to rent, but you don’t have to. I think the American dream is a happy life defined by growth and success, in whichever way you determine your success,” said Serhant, who starred in Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing New York.”
“I think the strain on the new American family is a massive issue. And people can’t afford to buy houses, sell houses, have kids,” Serhant said. “And I think that, yes, demand remains. First-time homebuyers, like I said, are the strongest market we have right now, in part fueled by baby boomers who are paying cash so their son or daughter could have a house. But I think affordability needs to be redefined.”
The real estate broker noted how many of the younger homeowners are sitting on property that was purchased for them by someone from an older generation. An Intuit Credit Karma study from 2024 found that “38% of Gen Z homeowners received financial assistance from their parents to purchase their home, and 44% plan to do the same when the time comes.”
“It’s boomers buying for millennials and Gen Z. And oftentimes, they’re the ones at the closing table. And so you have a lot of young people living in houses that are owned, but the 60-year-old bought the house. That brings the median age up,” Serhant told Fox News Digital. “I think more younger people are living in homes they own or homes that were bought for them than ever before.”
“My daughter is 6. I’m hopeful she’ll figure it out,” he said.
“My parents could have bought me a house; they could have bought me an apartment. But the minute I finished school, I was 100% on my own,” Serhant recounted. “And what they told me was, ‘You can always come home. If you come home, you’re gonna have to listen to us and follow our rules. It’s our house. But you’ll never be homeless. You’ll never starve. You’re not gonna die. You can always come home. But if you want to do anything else with your life that does not revolve around living with your parents, that’s on you. We’ve done our part.’”
“I would not be where I am today if my parents hadn’t helped me,” he concluded. “But I do appreciate that I understand the value of a dollar and how the world works, because I had to figure it out on my own.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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