For some aspiring homebuyers, a demanding market and uncertain economy mean homeownership comes first. Other life milestones? Well, those can wait.
Approximately 71% of aspiring homeowners have postponed major life events, such as marriage and having children, until they can purchase a home, according to The 2025 American Dream Report from Coldwell Banker. The brokerage network conducted the study with The Harris Poll, asking north of 3,000 adults — including almost 900 respondents who don't own a home but want to — about their homeownership priorities.
That delay could be because 83% of those polled who didn’t already own a home wanted to buy one someday, and 56% defined homeownership as a key tenet of the so-called American dream. That’s more than getting married or having kids (42% pinpointed those life stages as part of their American dream), career success and retirement by age 67 (39% each), and earning a college degree (23%).
Part of that priority might have strong financial ties, Coldwell Banker's report noted. The bulk of respondents (65%) considered homeownership financially smarter than renting. Forty-eight percent also saw real estate investment as a "better wealth-building" tool than playing the stock market.
The report comes as the share of first-time U.S. homebuyers hit an all-time low, according to a recent Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers from the National Association of Realtors. Between July 2024 and June 2025, the pool of first-time purchasers shrank to 21%, NAR found, the lowest in more than 40 years.
Americans delay marriage, career moves
When it came to marriage, 18% of respondents said they delayed tying the knot until they could afford a home, the same share who said they postponed having children. Seventeen percent of respondents reported postponing career changes until homeownership came within their grasp, and 15% said they delayed starting a business for the same reason.
Aspiring homeowners also delayed subtler hallmarks of independence, according to the poll. Seventeen percent said they put off getting a pet, and 16% noted “foregoing living independently,” the report found.
Generational lines proved a strong marker for deferred milestones, according to Coldwell Banker. Eighty-four percent of aspiring Gen Z buyers — those born between 1997 and 2012 — said they’re delaying at least one “life decision” until they can afford a home, with 29% specifically mentioning having children. With 53% predicting that they won’t buy a home until after they turn 40, that could mean a notable delay, the report suggests.
Why 40?
Delaying a home purchase until middle age is becoming more common, the NAR also found in its profile. The median age for first-time buyers reached a new high of 40, the trade group said, up from the 1980s when those buyers were in their late 20s.
Despite financial challenges, some aspiring homebuyers polled reported embracing concessions to bring their homeowning hopes to fruition: 42% said they’d take on a side job, 35% would consider a fixer-upper or an option in a more affordable area. Some of the aspiring buyers polled — 19% of Gen Z and 14% of millennials — said they’d already moved in with family to save money.
Younger aspiring buyers — 63% of Gen Z compared to 49% of millennials — also said they were considering co-buying with family and more than 33% reported that they’d thought about buying with a nonromantic partner.