As Home Costs Rise, Homeowner Tenure Nearly Doubles

The median homeowner tenure has nearly doubled since 2005 as homeowners choose to stay in their homes for longer. In 2005, the median U.S. homeowner lived in their home for 6.5 years, and in 2024, that time period grew to 11.8 years, according to the ResiClub blog. Homeowner tenure has come down a bit due to the increase in home sales during the Pandemic Housing Boom, but it climbed continuously year-over-year between 2005 and 2020.

This is because many older homeowners feel financially incentivized to hold onto their homes for longer. Approximately 54% of Baby Boomers no longer have a mortgage payment, making their monthly costs just over $600 on average.

There’s also the fact that older Americans have higher homeownership rates, and over the past few decades, the composition of the U.S. population has shifted older as the giant Baby Boomer generation has aged and birth rates have declined. That has put upward pressure on homeowner tenure. Read more