• Baby boomers are dipping into their cash pile after years of home value appreciation throughout the pandemic housing boom to buy smaller homes near family and friends. Millennials, on the other hand, are tapping into family money for down payments. “Baby boomers are dominating the housing market,” an economist told Fortune.

The baby boomer/millennial housing war rages on. Baby boomers are buying and selling more homes than millennials, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest generational trends report released Tuesday.

Baby boomers accounted for 42% of all homebuyers, while millennials accounted for 29%. But just a year earlier, baby boomers made up just 31% of homebuyers, and millennials 38%. Baby boomers are not only buying homes in greater numbers, but doing so in all cash.

“In a plot twist, baby boomers have overtaken millennials—the largest U.S. population—to become the top generation of homebuyers,” Jessica Lautz, NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research, said in a statement. “What’s striking is that half of older boomers and two out of five younger boomers are purchasing homes entirely with cash, bypassing financing altogether.”

(The report classifies younger millennials as those between 26 and 34 years old and older millennials as those between 35 and 44 years old; for boomers, the younger of the generation is grouped 60 to 69 years old and the older 70 to 78 years old.)

Baby boomers primarily moved to be closer to family and friends and out of a desire to downsize. Because this generation benefited from years of home appreciation, they can use that cash pile they earned from selling to buy a new home. In the past five years alone, home values have soared 45%, according to Zillow. That is more than a decade worth of the typical increase, per Zillow. In February 2020, the average home value was around $245,000, and in February 2025 it was around $357,000, Zillow data shows.

In an era when people are refusing to sell their homes out of fear of losing a low mortgage rate, it might not be that surprising to learn baby boomers made up the largest share of sellers at 53%. It’s unlikely someone would want to trade a sub-3% mortgage rate locked in during the pandemic for one that is now more than double, unless they can buy their next home in all-cash and be mortgage-free. That, or they’ve paid off their mortgage, so the rate wouldn’t matter either way.

Millennials, on the other hand, might need to rely on family money to buy a home. One-third of younger millennials received down payment help in the form of a gift or a loan from a friend or relative, according to the NAR report. Redfin’s chief economist, Daryl Fairweather, once called such millennials “nepo homebuyers,” a play on nepotism. She admitted she was one herself, too.