The share of homebuyers who bought a property with all cash hit its highest level in 2026, accounting for 10 percent of all first-time buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
“These all-cash buyers were more likely than financed buyers to obtain funds from a cash inheritance, an inherited property, or financial assets,” NAR said in a Nov. 5 statement.
First-time homebuyers who made all-cash purchases were older, with a median age of 54, compared with a median age of 38 among first-time buyers who bought homes with financing.
The average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.18 percent for the week ending Nov. 4, according to data from Freddie Mac. The weekly rate has remained at or above 6 percent every week this year, except one. This has made buying a home with a mortgage expensive.
All-cash purchases also give homebuyers stronger negotiating power and lower closing costs.
Cash offers are more attractive to sellers because they pose lower risks than mortgaged deals and can save on costs such as loan origination fees, private mortgage insurance, lender’s title insurance, and prepaid interest, according to fintech company Rocket Mortgage.
Downsides of all-cash purchases include tying up liquidity in a fixed asset and the risk of draining savings for the purchase.
Affordability is a major constraint for many prospective homebuyers, as first-time buyers struggle to save for down payments and face limited affordable inventory, NAR said.
Before the 2007–2009 recession, 40 percent of primary residence buyers were first-time buyers; in 2026, that figure was just 22 percent, marginally above the 21 percent historical low hit last year, NAR said.
The median age of first-time buyers was 40 years, up from 30 in 2010.
“First-time home buyers are likely older because they have to save longer and are entering a market with limited inventory, which may require longer searches to find a home,” NAR said.
Executive Order Targeting Housing Costs
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Oct. 22 to lower housing costs. It directed administration officials to create a pilot program to automatically cancel private mortgage insurance payments for certain homeowners, provided they build sufficient equity in their properties.
The move is expected to help some owners avoid high monthly insurance costs.
The secretaries of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Veterans Affairs were instructed to reduce interest rates on single-family home loans issued by their departments.
The order also directed the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation to address permitting and regulatory burdens in building manufactured homes.
Scott Turner, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, co-chairs the task force.
The task force will seek to modernize various codes and standards to safely speed up certifications and approvals for manufactured housing, the department said in an Oct. 22 statement.
“President Trump is a builder, and today he is committing to bring even more innovative and affordable housing solutions to market for the American people,” Turner said in the statement.
“For decades, home building has been crippled by regulatory red tape, but the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation can usher in the next generation of housing by modernizing standards and speeding up approvals across government.”
