This article is an excerpt from our full “Beyond Traditional Borrowers: How Mortgage Lenders Can Embrace & Attract Diversity” Guide. To access the full guide, click here.
Financial advisors often stress the importance of diversifying your investment portfolio. By spreading your investments across different assets, you minimize your risk and protect your returns amid unexpected market conditions.
When it comes to your customer base, the same principle applies—diversifying your customer base ensures that your mortgage lending business isn’t overly reliant on any single group of borrowers. Thus, you’ll be more likely to weather market fluctuations and achieve your growth goals, even in the face of high interest rates, low housing inventory, and expensive home prices.
So, how can you strategically diversify your customer base and set yourself up for success? Below, we’ll review seven valuable subsets of borrowers to target for your lending portfolio this year.
Supporting First-Time Homebuyers
According to the National Association of Realtors, roughly one-third of American homebuyers purchased their first home in 2024. Broken down by age, these first-time homebuyers make up:
- 75% of homebuyers aged 25 to 33
- 44% of homebuyers aged 34 to 43
- 24% of homebuyers aged 44 to 58
- 8% of homebuyers aged 59 to 68
These borrowers often require more hands-on support than their seasoned home-buying counterparts. After all, the process of purchasing a home and applying for a mortgage can be quite intimidating the first time around.
The best way to attract and support first-time homebuyers? Offer plenty of educational resources. Some topics you can explore include down payment saving strategies, credit score improvement tips, renting vs. buying, and the specific steps involved in the home-buying process.
Since first-time homebuyers are such an important demographic, we’ve already created a wealth of resources for them at Certified Credit. Feel free to share the following articles with your first-time mortgage applicants:
- What You Need to Know As a First-Time Home Buyer
- The Ultimate Cheat Sheet To Answer First-Time Homebuyers’ FAQs
- Helping First-Time & NextGen Homebuyers Compete & Thrive in Today’s Market
- 9 Tips For First-Time-Homebuyers in Today’s Market
Capturing Different Generations
Every generation has unique preferences when it comes to marketing, social media, and communication. Along the same lines, each generation has specific concerns about purchasing a home and the mortgage lending process.
Here’s the current market share of homebuyers broken down by generation:
- 3% – Gen Z (1999 to 2011)
- 38% – Millennials (1980 to 1998)
- 24% – Gen X (1965-1979)
- 31% – Baby Boomers (1946-1964)
- 4% – Silent Generation (1925-1945)
As you can see, millennials currently make up the largest group of homebuyers, so they’re a key demographic to target. These borrowers are very active on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. They also value quick, convenient communication and appreciate a digitized application process. Some of their top lending challenges include student loan debt and rising housing prices.
Second in size, Baby Boomers can also generate considerable mortgage lending business. These homebuyers appreciate phone calls and face-to-face meetings. They often prefer printed lending materials over digital files. With many approaching retirement, their primary housing concerns include stability, downsizing, and refinancing to support their retirement goals.
While still a small swath of homebuyers, Gen Z will become increasingly prominent over the coming years. This generation gravitates toward visual-rich social media platforms, such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, and favors short-form video content. Gen Zs who are ready to buy desire real-time communication and a quick, mobile-friendly mortgage application process.
By keeping these generational differences in mind, you can tailor your marketing tactics, messaging, and borrower experience accordingly and increase your chances of securing a broader range of business.
