First Time Home Buyers are Going it Alone These Days

It used to be that purchasing your first home was something that typically happened after marriage. According to Zillow, that's no longer the case.

An analysis done by the real estate website that uses buyer characteristics based on the federally funded Panel Survey of Income Dynamics shows that nowadays only 40 percent of first-time homebuyers are married, compared to 52 percent two decades ago.

That can be attributed to fewer people getting married overall, but that's not the only major change in profile statistics. The average age of buyers has risen from 30 to 33, and people are renting for much longer — six years on average when it used to be more like four — before plunking down a down payment.

In the 1980s, a starter home typically cost 1.9 times a person's annual salary. Today it's more like 2.6, which roughly equates to $140,328, and Texas especially is seeing a spike in home prices.

For their money, single buyers tend to be choosier and less willing to do heavy renovations themselves. Without someone to share the maintenance and repairs that's understandable, but there's certainly an argument to be made for all that freedom you get in exchange.

 Courtesy of CultureMap Austin August 24th 2015