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The share of first-time home buyers dropped to a record low of 21%, while the typical age of first-time buyers climbed to an all-time high of 40 years, according to the National Association of REALTORS®' 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. This annual survey of recent home buyers and sellers covers transactions between July 2024 and June 2025 and offers industry professionals, consumers, and policymakers detailed insights into homebuying and selling behavior. "The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory," said Jessica Lautz NAR deputy chief economist and...

The convoluted, Rube Goldberg-worthy process described below, which affords preferential treatment to those who invoke Sharia, lends itself to any number of foreseeable abuses. Here is one. "Islamic law used to dodge stamp duty," from the Daily Express, March 21 (thanks to Twostellas): Sharia law is being used by house buyers posing as Muslims to dodge stamp duty, it was revealed yesterday. A scheme, brought in by Labour in 2005, allows followers of Islam to buy property without paying the tax. Paying interest is banned under Sharia law, so Muslims are allowed to buy a house and then sell it...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nearly half of all Americans who claimed the first-time homebuyer tax credit on their 2009 tax returns will have to repay the government. According to a report from the Inspector General for Tax Administration, released to the public Thursday, about 950,000 of the nearly 1.8 million Americans who claimed the tax credit on their 2009 tax returns will have to return the money.

Nearly half of all Americans who claimed the first-time homebuyer tax credit on their 2009 tax returns will have to repay the government... The confusion comes because homebuyers were eligible for two different credits, depending on when their homes were purchased... Now, the IRS is developing a strategy for separating the 2009 taxpayers who are required to repay the credit from those who are not.

First-time home buyers can take immediate advantage of an $8,000 tax credit for homes purchased this year before Dec. 1, the Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday. Buyers can take the credit on either their 2008 or 2009 taxes. Forms are available on the IRS website or through IRS offices. The tax credit is available to first-time buyers with incomes under $75,000 for singles or $150,000 for couples. It covers 10% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $8,000. Unlike last year's tax break, it does not need to be repaid if the buyer remains in the home, "The...