{"id":16415,"date":"2026-03-04T15:58:56","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=16415"},"modified":"2026-03-04T15:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:58:56","slug":"rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising age of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The rising age profile of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications for Ireland, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile we\u2019ve known for some time that the age of first-time buyers has been steadily rising, Cairn Homes \u2013 the country\u2019s largest homebuilders \u2013 has confirmed that the average age has now jumped to 38 or 39 in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe impact this will have on Irish society is huge, with adults stuck indefinitely in their childhood bedrooms, forced to forego career opportunities or having to delay plans to start a family. It also means people are paying extortionate rents over a longer period, unable to save money for a deposit for their first home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdditionally, if you take out a mortgage in your late 30s, you could potentially be straddled with mortgage debt well into retirement years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne thing is clear: the housing crisis isn\u2019t negatively impacting Ireland\u2019s large developers, with Cairn Homes seeing its operating profits jump from \u20ac150 million in 2024 to \u20ac168.6 million last year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>March 4, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rising age profile of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications for Ireland, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said: \u201cWhile we\u2019ve known for some time that the age of first-time buyers has been steadily rising, Cairn Homes \u2013 the country\u2019s largest homebuilders \u2013 has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,510],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing-crisis","category-press-release","category-rory-hearne"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rising age of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rising age of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The rising age profile of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications for Ireland, according to Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne. Deputy Hearne, who is the party\u2019s housing spokesperson, said: \u201cWhile we\u2019ve known for some time that the age of first-time buyers has been steadily rising, Cairn Homes \u2013 the country\u2019s largest homebuilders \u2013 has [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-04T15:58:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/20250205-Rory-01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Rising age of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-04T15:58:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":188,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/20250205-Rory-01.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Housing Crisis\",\"Press Release\",\"Rory Hearne\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/rising-age-of-first-time-buyers-will-have-massive-societal-implications\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rising age of first-time buyers will have massive societal implications - 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