Gen Z is carving a different path in the housing market by doing it alone

The National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, a survey of 6,103 main residence patrons from July 2025, discovered that many Gen Zers—which the NAR defines as these ages 18 to 26—are skipping the chapel and strolling straight into a realtor’s workplace. More than half of Gen Zers as we speak, 53%, are shopping for properties alone. That determine is greater than double the charge at which millennials had been shopping for properties alone at the identical age. An NAR examine from 2013, the first yr NAR launched their generational tendencies report, discovered that singles comprised simply 22% of homebuyers 32 and youthful. Out of these Gen Zers buying a dwelling, 35% are single women and 18% are single males.

“Gen Zers are absolutely crushing it when we think about singles purchasing homes in this housing market compared to millennials at the same age,” Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice chairman of analysis at NAR, instructed Fortune.

The pattern is the newest knowledge level in the generational reinvention of the path to homeownership. A 2025 Coldwell Banker survey found a staggering 84% of Gen Zers say they’re delaying main life milestones, akin to marriage and even profession modifications, simply to afford a dwelling. The age of the median first-time homebuyer hit an all-time excessive of 40 final yr, which means even the oldest Gen Zers are nonetheless over a decade away from reaching homeownership.

The large to make certain accompanying this knowledge level is that, as many Gen Zers intention to make homebuying a actuality, they nonetheless make up a small share of the housing market. The technology accounted for simply 4% of all patrons. And the report additionally discovered first-time homebuyers composed the smallest share ever recorded since NAR began accumulating knowledge in 1981. First-time patrons comprised nearly one in 5, or 21%, of homebuyers, down from 24% final yr.

How some Gen Zers afford a down cost

The housing market general as we speak is shifting at an more and more sluggish tempo. The spring shopping for season is normally one among the hottest instances for the market. But home sales fell 3.6% in March month over month as potential homebuyers wait on the sidelines for mortgage charges to fall and for affordability issues—partly pushed by higher-for-longer oil costs stemming from the Iran conflict—to chill down.

For these Gen Zers who’ve scored a pair of keys, many are taking nontraditional routes to a down cost. About 14% of homebuyers 18 to 26 have consulted a neighborhood or authorities down cost help program (DPAP). These monetary support initiatives are normally supplied by state or native governments, nonprofits, or lenders and are designed to cowl the upfront prices of buying a dwelling, serving to low-income patrons get a foothold in the housing market. For comparability, the next-highest technology to seek the advice of a DPAP for assist was younger millennials, ages 27 to 35, simply 4% of whom used that monetary leverage.

About 13% of Gen Zers have obtained items from family or pals. That’s lower than younger millennials, practically a quarter of whom obtained items, and 13% of older millennials, 36- to 45-year-olds, did too. About one-fifth of Gen Z homebuyers used the proceeds from the sale of a main residence.

Whatever the journey, Lautz stated the different paths to homeownership level to the resilient perception in homebuying as a core tenet of the American dream. “I am encouraged that we are seeing them move into homeownership,” she stated. “I do think it speaks to the strength of homeownership being part of the American dream.”