It's still tough out there for first-time homebuyers, and will probably stay that way for a few more years

• First-time homebuyers will probably continue struggling to buy a home for a few more years.
• It'll likely take until 2025 for first-time buyers to regain market share, a Zillow survey found.

It's still tough out there for first-time homebuyers, and it's expected to stay that way for a few more years.

Online real estate firm Zillow $4 about their predictions for 2022 and beyond. Their findings showed that the frenzied residential real estate market — with its soaring home values and low inventory — probably won't cool off anytime soon.

This hits first-time buyers especially hard, because they often don't the cash reserves of other buyers. And in fact, the share of first-time buyers has significantly decreased over the past few years: those buyers made up 43% of the market in 2020, but only 37% in 2021, $4.

Data from the National Association of Realtors paints an even starker picture: As of January 2022, first-time buyers represent just 27% of the market.

And according to the majority of Zillow's panel of experts, it'll take until 2024 or 2025 for the share of first-time buyers in the market to hit pre-pandemic levels once again — and another 18% don't believe the share of first-time buyers will hit 45% or more until 2030, even though millennials will be "aging well into their prime home-buying years before that time," Jeff Tucker, Zillow's senior economist, wrote in the report.

In the meantime, first-time buyers are growing frustrated. Courtney Zaelit, a first-time homebuyer from Bedford, Texas, $4 that she feels buyers like her are at a disadvantage in the current market. Zaelit recently gave up on buying a house after making an offer on her dream home and getting outbid.

"I felt defeated," she said.

Brianna Lombardozzi, a prospective buyer in Central, South Carolina, $4 that the process made her feel defeated too. Lombardozzi recently had four bids rejected and is running out of time to find a home before her lease is up in May, Reuters reported.

And as $4 and the median home price $4, finding an affordable home can feel extra daunting for buyers: A 20% down payment for a home that price is more than $75,000 right now.

A recent TD Bank survey found that $4 for potential homeowners, with 46% citing saving for a down payment as the biggest hangup.