Why Homebuilders Must Widen Their Lens On Today’s Buyers

Barbara Wray -

For decades, the family of four has been the default protagonist in new-home marketing. Keep speaking to them—they matter. But today’s households look different, and so does the buyer mix. In 2024, about 29% of all U.S. households were one-person households, a historic high (U.S. Census Bureau). At the same time, only about 39% of family households included children under 18 (Census America Counts). That’s composition, not buyer activity—but composition tends to show up in who shops, tours, and closes.

It’s visible in transaction data.

In the latest profile window, 73% of buyers did not have a child under 18 at home (so 27% did), 17% purchased a multigenerational home, and 26% paid all cash (NAR highlights; NAR press). Empty nesters, meanwhile, have momentum—and means. In 2025, baby boomers accounted for 42% of all buyers, and half of older boomers and 40% of younger boomers purchased entirely with cash (NAR Newsroom).

Singles are meaningful, too: while 62% of buyers were married couples, the 20% single women and 8% single men make up a significant percentage of buyers. (NAR highlights).

If the goal is to help hesitant buyers move from browsing to buying, broadening the lens can help:

1. Keep families with kids within frame—but don’t make them the frame. Families remain central in many communities. The nuance: they’re no longer synonymous with “the market.” Use images, stories, and plan callouts that include families with children alongside other formations. When speaking to families, be specific: school-adjacent convenience and kid-centric programming can be powerful, but they shouldn’t eclipse adult-forward benefits that matter to empty nesters and singles.

2. Put multigenerational living on the surface, not as a footnote. If you offer a secondary suite, dual primary suites, a casita, or a lockable flex suite, lead with that. Explain privacy, sound, circulation, and entry strategies in plain language. Show furniture plans for a parent suite or a boomerang adult child. Connect features to real motivations—such as cost sharing, caregiving, dignity, and independence. With 17% of recent purchases designed for multigenerational living, treat it like a mainstream need, not an edge case (NAR highlights).

3. Speak to the equity-rich, rate-indifferent buyer. Empty nesters often arrive with proceeds and flexibility—position smaller, right-sized homes as an upgrade in lifestyle, not a compromise on space. Emphasize single-level living, ease of maintenance, well-designed storage, and proximity to trails, culture, grandkids, and medical facilities, not just schools. The cash reality matters: 26% of purchases were all-cash across all buyers, and Baby Boomers are leading this trend (NAR press; NAR Newsroom).

4. Make singles feel expected, not exceptional. Replace the “starter-home for the future family” trope with clear value propositions: lock-and-leave townhomes, smaller-footprint detached homes, and condos with security and social infrastructure. When pricing is tight, emphasize the total monthly cost, including HOA fees, warranty coverage, and energy savings. If your buyer pages or tours only feature couples with kids, you’re signaling exclusion. Given the scale—about 29% of all households are single-person—that’s demand you don’t want to overlook (Census).

5. Tune messaging to household formation, not just life stage. Life stage is a blunt instrument. Household formation shows how people live now. Build personas for a multigenerational caregiver family, a single professional, and an equity-rich empty-nest couple, alongside the traditional family with children. Then map what each persona notices on your website, in your ads, and during a model tour. Where do you signal “This is for you,” and where are you quiet?

6. Align product stories to financing realities. For multigen buyers, translate plan features into shared-expense benefits. For cash-heavy buyers, emphasize speed and simplicity. For singles, make the affordability story concrete—HOA coverage, warranty protections, and energy-efficient features that reduce monthly expenses.

Quick Self-Check for Your Next Release or Model Tour

  • Imagery: Do your last 12 posts and your homepage hero include singles, multigenerational households, and empty nesters—not just families with children?
  • Floor Plans: Can a buyer easily find private-suite plans, dual primaries, or a detached casita—and do you explain how they function?
  • Tours: Are there staged vignettes for a parent suite, a single professional’s home office, or a lock-and-leave lifestyle?
  • Copy: Do your bullet points lean heavily on kid amenities, or do they balance adult-forward conveniences, maintenance ease, and proximity to what matters?
  • Metrics: Are you tracking inquiries and conversions by household type so you can see where the message resonates?

This isn’t about abandoning the family of four. It’s about accuracy—reflecting the households most prevalent in the market and the buyers best positioned to make a move. No one has all the answers, and the mix will continue to shift. The signal, though, is clear enough to act on: Widen the lens, and the story you tell is more likely to meet buyers where they actually live.