Friendship is the new romance — at least when it comes to buying a home. With housing costs skyrocketing across America, more singles are ditching the wait for a wedding ring and instead joining forces with friends and family members to achieve the increasingly elusive dream of homeownership.
The trend of “co-buying” with platonic partners has surged dramatically in recent years, with 30% of all U.S. home sales in 2025 involving co-buyers, according to data released by CoBuy. The report reveals that more than 61 million Americans now co-own homes in groups averaging 3.6 members.
Why the shift? Kate Wood from NerdWallet points to the obvious culprit: housing in the United States is “incredibly expensive,” making it nearly impossible for many individuals to purchase alone, as noted in recent coverage.
Single Women Leading the Charge
Perhaps most striking is who’s embracing this trend. The National Association of Realtors’ 2025 Profile shows that among first-time homebuyers, single women account for 25% of purchases, significantly outpacing single men at just 10%. Married couples still dominate at 50%, but the gap is narrowing as non-traditional buying arrangements gain popularity.
When looking at all homebuyers, married couples maintain their strong position at 61%, with single women at 21% and single men trailing at 9%, according to NAR data published earlier this year.
Delayed homeownership is another notable trend. The median age for first-time homebuyers has crept up to 40 in 2025, a two-year increase from just a year ago. First-time buyers now represent only 21% of all 2025 purchases — a figure that housing economists watch closely as an indicator of market health and accessibility.
Beyond Traditional Households
Remember when homebuying was primarily for newlyweds and established families? Those days are fading fast. NAR’s 2022 Profile recorded a record-high 5% of first-time home buyers falling into the category of “other household compositions” — essentially, arrangements beyond the traditional single person, married couple, or unmarried couple, as documented by the Houston Association of Realtors.
What’s driving this shift? For many, it’s simple mathematics. Pooling resources allows buyers to enter markets that would otherwise remain out of reach. A down payment split three or four ways suddenly makes that impossible dream house in a desirable neighborhood attainable.
But it’s not all smooth sailing. Co-buying presents unique challenges that romantic partnerships typically don’t face. Without the legal framework of marriage, friends and family members must navigate carefully crafted agreements covering everything from maintenance responsibilities to exit strategies should someone want to sell their share.
Is this just a temporary adaptation to a brutal housing market? Possibly. But many real estate professionals see it as a more permanent shift in how Americans approach housing — one that reflects broader changes in how we define family and community in the 21st century.
For those priced out of the traditional homebuying path, the message is clear: you don’t need a wedding to have a housewarming party. Sometimes, the best co-signers are the friends we made along the way.
