The price of a house the year you turned 25
Homeownership lets you build equity, put down roots, and make a place your own. But in recent years, achieving this part of the American dream has become much more difficult.
Adjusting for inflation, the cost of a newly constructed single-family home in 2022 was over 2.5 times more expensive than in the 1960s. So for young adults in their mid-20s—an age when many people think they should buy a home—the goal might seem out of reach. The actual average age of a first-time home buyer in 2023 was 35, according to the National Association of Realtors. Additionally, buying a median-priced home in the U.S. in 2024 requires a household income of $114,000, almost $30,000 more than the national average.
To illustrate how home prices have grown, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a new, single-family home for the last 60 years. Using Census Bureau data, we analyzed the median sales price for a newly constructed home from 1963 to 2023 and the Consumer Price Index to calculate each year's absolute and inflation-adjusted prices.
The basis of the Census Bureau data is new constructions, which are often more expensive than existing homes. The list price includes both the house and the land. This story does not include houses built for rent, those built by the owner, or ones by a general contractor on the owner's land.
It's true that location plays a role in home prices. For example, homes in the Northeast and West have always generally been higher than the rest of the country. But the data still shows that average prices have grown substantially over time.
Check out the cost of buying a home the year you turned 25.
