Over the past 24 years, a lot has changed in the first-time homebuyer market, coming in as one of the largest home-buying cohorts and even one of the smallest.

Genworth released its inaugural First-Time Homebuyer Market Report, covering all major mortgage products between the first quarter of 1994 and the first quarter of 2017.

The new report measures first-time homebuyer purchases across all mortgage products (including both existing and new home sales) in order to provide a detailed portrayal of their segment’s impact on the purchase market. 

With the historical data on the first-time homebuyer, HousingWire created the following charts and infographics to show how the current group of first-time homebuyers compares to past peaks and troughs.  

The chart below compares the size of the first-time homebuyer market in 2016 to the peak (1999) and trough (2011), along with the historical average.

This next infographic depicts the mix of the first-time homebuyer market in the housing market.  

The next infographic depicts the mix of the first-time homebuyer market in the mortgage market.