For most Californians, the milestone of buying a \u201cstarter home\u201d is increasingly happening long after the start of adult life.<\/p>\n
A new analysis<\/a> of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Public Policy Institute of California finds that the age at which a majority of Californians turn from renters to homeowners is 47. In the rest of the country, a majority of people are homeowners by 36.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s quite staggering,\u201d said Chris Duff, president of the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors. \u201cThe age does seem to be climbing every year, especially here in California.\u201d<\/p>\n The numbers that explain why so many Californians are locked out\u00a0<\/p>\n High home prices, unyielding mortgage interest rates, sluggish construction of new homes and lackluster wage growth are all conspiring to keep many younger adults locked out of homeownership<\/a>, real estate experts said.<\/p>\n Learn the ins and outs behind L.A.’s housing crisis.<\/p>\n Sign up for Building Your Block, a seven-issue newsletter course from LAist that explains the obstacles around housing development in L.A. and what you can do to make things better.<\/p>\n Those factors exist across the country, but they\u2019re especially acute in Southern California. According to<\/a> recent data from the California Association of Realtors:<\/p>\n The median home price in L.A. County was $879,900 in the second quarter of 2026. That was more than double the national median home price of $434,900.Only about 17% of L.A. households earn the $219,200 minimum income needed to afford a typical $5,480 monthly payment. Larissa Rubijevsky, a realtor<\/a> focused on L.A.\u2019s South Bay neighborhoods, told LAist that when she began working in Southern California in the early 2000s, her first-time buyer clients tended to be in their early 30s.<\/p>\n Homes were already expensive back then, but Census data shows that first-time buyers were indeed younger. In 2009, a majority of Californians had become homeowners by age 41, according to the Public Policy Institute analysis.<\/p>\n These days, Rubijevsky said she sees millennial and Gen Z buyers making sacrifices just to try to enter the market.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes they have to move in with their parents for a certain amount of time and save money,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of them are trying to buy property with their peers, with their friends, and then share the title 50-50.\u201d<\/p>\n Others are hitting up their parents for down payment gifts<\/a>, Rubijevsky said.<\/p>\n She said she saw her clients get noticeably older after the buying frenzy of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In those days, homes cost less and interest rates were low. Today\u2019s prices and monthly payments are simply out of reach for most younger buyers, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople would like to have the American Dream,\u201d Rubijevsky said. \u201cWhen people can’t do that, they’re forced to leave the state\u2026 That’s not a happy decision for them, but they just don’t have any choice anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Why the trend toward older homebuyers matters for California<\/p>\n Between 2015 and 2025, California\u2019s net migration included a loss of 884,000 people<\/a> who cited high housing costs as their primary reason for leaving the state.<\/p>\n Marisol Cuellar Mejia \u2014 a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California who co-authored the recent homebuying analysis \u2014 said home ownership continues to be the main way for most families to build the kind of wealth they can pass on to the next generation.<\/p>\n \u201cYounger adults in California are missing out on long-term wealth building,\u201d Cuellar Mejia said.<\/p>\n She said the trend will have \u201ca cascade effect that has a lot of implications\u201d for lawmakers and individual families. Californians who need to wait until their 40s to buy a home could decide to delay marriage, have fewer children and keep working beyond a traditional retirement age.<\/p>\n Across Southern California, typical homebuying ages vary widely by location, education level, immigration status and ethnicity. In L.A. County, where most residents are renters, homeowners only begin to outnumber renters at age 59. In Riverside County, where homes are cheaper, that age is 39.<\/p>\n White and Asian Californians tend to become homeowners younger than Black Californians, according to the analysis. So do college graduates when compared with those without a college degree. California\u2019s Latino immigrants are more likely to rent than own a home in every age bracket.<\/p>\n Vivian Chen, a mortgage lender with Southern California-based Exceed Lending<\/a>, said some buyers are still able to secure their first home in their 20s and 30s by participating in government-funded down payment assistance programs<\/a>, such as the California Dream For All Shared Appreciation Loan and various other county and city-funded programs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are doing quite a few every month,\u201d Chen said. \u201cThose programs are actually helping a lot of first-time buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n Is more government help on the way?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nYounger buyers need to get creative \u2014 or get help from mom and dad<\/p>\n