Baby Boomers Are Running the Housing Market Right Now. Here's What That Means for Everyone Else

There's a generational shift happening in real estate right now that most people aren't talking about — and it's affecting buyers and sellers at every age level.

Understanding it could change how you approach your next move.

Who's Actually Buying and Selling Homes Right Now

According to NAR's freshly released 2026 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report — based on real transactions from July 2024 through June 2025 — here's the breakdown of who's actually moving in this market:

• Baby Boomers (ages 61–79): 42% of all buyers

• Millennials (ages 27–45): 26%

• Gen X (ages 46–60): 25%

• Gen Z (ages 18–26): 4%

And on the selling side? Baby Boomers make up 55% of all home sellers — the highest of any generation.

Let that sink in. The generation everyone assumed would "age in place" indefinitely is now the single largest force on both sides of the housing market simultaneously.

Why Boomers Are Dominating — And It's Not What You Think

Here's the part most headlines miss: this isn't about baby boomers having higher incomes than everyone else. It's about one thing — equity.

Many baby boomers have owned homes for decades, benefiting from years of home price appreciation. Older boomers typically stay in their homes for about 15 years before selling — and those 15 years of appreciation, combined with decades of mortgage paydown, have created equity positions that younger generations simply can't match.

As NAR Deputy Chief Economist Dr. Jessica Lautz put it directly: "Baby boomers have owned homes for a long period of time, and this has provided them housing equity so that now, as they're hitting retirement or actively in retirement, they can make housing trades rather easily."

That ease of movement is the key. Unlike younger buyers, many baby boomers are making lifestyle-driven moves — downsizing, relocating closer to family, or purchasing homes for retirement — rather than buying out of necessity.

They're not competing the same way younger buyers are. They're moving on their own terms. And their equity is what makes that possible.

The Other Side of the Story: First-Time Buyers Are Getting Squeezed Out

Here's where this gets important for anyone trying to break into the market for the first time.

The housing market remains sharply divided between homeowners with equity and first-time buyers trying to break in — many of whom are younger millennials.

First-time buyers now make up just 21% of all purchases — the lowest share NAR has recorded since they started tracking it in 1981. Historically, first-time buyers made up closer to 40% of the market. That drop represents hundreds of thousands of buyers who should be entering the market and aren't.

The typical U.S. homeowner has accumulated $128,100 in housing wealth over the last six years alone. Equity-rich buyers — largely boomers — can use that wealth to make cash offers, skip contingencies, and close quickly. First-time buyers financing everything from scratch can't compete with that on equal terms.

That divide is real. And it's reshaping who gets to build wealth through real estate — and who keeps waiting.

What This Means in Southern California Specifically

In Pasadena and LA County, this dynamic plays out in sharp relief. Long-term homeowners — many of them boomers who bought decades ago when prices were dramatically lower — are sitting on equity positions that dwarf what today's first-time buyers have saved. When a boomer downsizer with $500,000+ in equity competes for the same move-in-ready property as a first-time buyer with an FHA loan, the playing field isn't level.

But here's the flip side that matters for first-time buyers in Rancho Cucamonga and the Inland Empire: boomer sellers are also creating inventory. When a boomer decides to downsize, that home — often a larger, established property — hits the market. And in a region where inventory has been one of the biggest constraints on buyer opportunity, that matters.

More boomer sellers means more homes to choose from. And more homes to choose from means more chances to find something that works.

The Strategic Insight Most Buyers Are Missing

Here's what I want first-time buyers especially to understand from this data:

The boomers who are running this market right now didn't start with equity. They started exactly where you are — first-time buyers trying to make the math work in a market that felt expensive and complicated.

The difference between them and the buyers still waiting? They bought. They stayed. And time did the rest.

The equity that's giving boomers the freedom to move on their own terms today was built one mortgage payment at a time — over years and decades of ownership. That process starts on day one of your first purchase.

Every year you wait is a year someone else is building that foundation. And the buyers who find a way in now — even in a challenging market, even with a smaller down payment, even in a less-than-perfect home — are the ones who will be the equity-rich buyers of 2040.

The market rewards ownership. It always has.

What This Means If You're a Boomer Thinking About Making a Move

If you're in that 61–79 age range and you've been sitting on significant equity — wondering if now is the right time to downsize, relocate, or make your retirement move — the data says you're in the strongest position of any group in the market right now.

You have what most buyers don't: leverage. Equity that can fund your next purchase, potentially without a mortgage. Flexibility on timing that buyers dependent on financing don't have. And a market where your home — well-maintained and priced correctly — is in real demand.

The question isn't whether you can make a move. It's whether you have a clear plan for what comes next. And that's exactly the conversation worth having.

Bold LA Key Takeaway

Baby boomers are running the 2026 housing market — on both the buying and selling side — because decades of ownership created equity that younger generations are still working toward.

For first-time buyers: the path forward is real, even if it's not easy. The buyers who find a way in now are building the equity that will give them this same freedom someday.

For boomer homeowners: your equity is your advantage. And right now, the conditions to use it strategically are as good as they've been in years.

Whatever side of this equation you're on — let's talk about what it means for your specific situation and what the right move looks like for you right now.

That wraps up today's blog — appreciate you stopping by. And as always, if you want it to sell, call Terrell… and if you want to buy, I'm still the guy.