Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers

The 2011 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers was released on Friday, November 11 at the 2011 Realtors® Conference & Expo in Anaheim, CA. The 2011 edition is the latest in a long-running series of large national NAR surveys evaluating demographics, preferences, marketing and experiences of recent home buyers and sellers. Some highlights from this year’s publication:

• Demographics of home buyers is the biggest change from 2010. The median age of buyers jumped to 45 years old from 39 years old.
• Only 10% of recent sellers sold via FSBO. 87% of recent sellers sold through a real estate agent or broker.
• The top reason among sellers to sell their home was a job relocation, at 17% of all sellers, up from 9% in 2006.
• The typical home seller lived in their home for 9 years – a number that has consistently increased in recent years.
• About 9 in 10 recent home buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker.
• Over one-third of home buyers look online at properties for sale as their first step in the home buying process.
• The 2011 report saw the highest share of married couple home buyers since 2001, and the lowest share of single females since 2004.
• The income of home buyers rose with tighter underwriting. The median income of buyers in 2011 was $80,900. This is up from $72,200 in 2010.

Jessica Lautz is the Survey Research Manager. Jessica analyzes data and writes annual studies such as the Member Profile, the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, and the Commercial Member Profile.