Single Gen Z women accounted for a larger share of homebuyers than single Gen Z men during a recent 12-month period, according to data from the National Association of Realtors, a finding that stands out even as the overall pool of first-time buyers shrank to a historic low. The NAR survey, which covered home purchases from July 2024 through June 2025, found that single women and men were buying at different rates inside the youngest adult generation.
In the NAR data, single Gen Z women represented 35% of homebuyers in their generation, while single Gen Z men represented 18%. NAR also reported that no other generation had a bigger share of single women homebuyers than Gen Z, and that Gen Z made up just 4% of all homebuyers across generations in the survey period.
The figures also matched a broader affordability-and-demand backdrop NAR described as unfavorable for first-time purchases overall. NAR said the share of U.S. homes bought by first-time buyers of all ages sank to the lowest level on record going back to 1981, a shift that came despite mortgage-rate movements and localized price changes that have varied across the country.
For Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist, the difference within Gen Z connects to legal and financial independence. She said women now are outpacing men in college attendance, which can lead to higher incomes, and she said a more durable explanation is that women’s ability to secure mortgages on their own was legally protected starting in the 1970s, which she said women have since embraced.
Lautz also pointed to life-course timing that makes homeownership a harder lift for many young adults. She said Gen Z buyers often are early in their careers, may not be married, and may carry student loan obligations at the same time they are trying to save for down payments.
The NAR survey cited a financial baseline for Gen Z buyers that is lower than for other generations, saying Gen Z homebuyers had a median annual income of $76,000 as of 2024. NAR also said that soaring prices over multiple years have stretched affordability, and that even as home price growth has slowed and prices have fallen in some metro areas, prices have mostly still been rising.
Even with the overall drag on first-time buying, the report described paths that some young buyers use to close the down-payment gap. NAR said Gen Z buyers were more likely to receive financial help from family, and that many look into community grants or other payment-assistance programs for first-time homebuyers. The survey also said 1 in 10 Gen Z homebuyers tapped retirement savings through a 401(k) to put toward their down payment.
The story included examples of young homeowners who described building savings and competing in a tight market. Bri LaFluer, now 27, bought her first home in 2023 at age 24 after working two jobs and saving about half her pay, and she said she had wanted “my own place to have peace and quiet by myself.” LaFluer’s home search began in 2021; she purchased a house in Baldwinsville, New York, about 15 miles from Syracuse, for $175,000.
LaFluer said she financed the purchase after saving for a $20,000 down payment, aided by living with her mother and paying modest rent. The home, built in 1900, has three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms and a large yard, and she said, “I feel like it was meant to be” and that it became “the perfect house” for her and her dogs.
Another example came from Mariah Berry, who said she did not go out and spend on entertainment while many peers did and that “It was not fun.” Berry bought a two-bedroom, one-bath home in Charleston, Tennessee, about 45 miles outside of Chattanooga, for $218,000 at age 23 in 2023. She described buying after periods when she and her boyfriend were bouncing between short-term rentals or living in other temporary situations, and she said she made a $7,000 down payment and financed the rest with a 30-year mortgage at 6% interest.
Berry said she later planned to consider buying the other half of the duplex, and she described the immediate emotional reaction after submitting her offer, telling the survey that after she put in the offer she wanted “to puke” and that she thought, “Oh my God, did I do the right thing?” She said she is now looking at using the other side as an opportunity for her household, including renting it out.
NAR’s findings also described a longer-running pattern beyond Gen Z. The survey said the share of homes bought by single women has followed a longstanding trend, including a peak in the mid-2000s housing boom when the share of homes bought by single women reached 22% in 2006, and for single men it peaked at 12% in 2010.