U.S. homeowners are staying in their houses for the longest time in at least 25 years, largely thanks to their low mortgage rates, data shows.
Why it matters: That — along with still-high home prices and tight inventory — is keeping the housing market on ice.
The big picture: Sellers at the end of 2025 had owned their homes for an average of 8.6 years — a record in data going back to early 2000, when the average was 4.2 years.
What we're hearing: Homeowner tenure has increased steadily in almost every major metro area over the past two decades, according to ATTOM, an industry data provider.
- The "trend is especially pronounced in coastal and Northeast metros, where tenure often exceeds a decade, while many Sun Belt and Midwest markets continue to see comparatively shorter ownership periods," CEO Rob Barber tells Axios.
State of play: Before changing hands in Q4 2025, homes in Barnstable, Massachusetts (14.1 years), Springfield, Massachusetts (13.5 years) and New Haven, Connecticut (13.4 years) saw the longest average ownership among metros with at least 200,000 residents.
- Tenure rose the most from the prior year in Merced, California (+34% to 12.5 years), Lakeland, Florida (+18% to 8.3 years) and Chattanooga, Tennessee (+17% to 8 years).
The other side: Provo, Utah (6.9 years), Crestview, Florida (7 years) and Oklahoma City (7.3 years) posted the shortest tenures.
Between the lines: "[M]arkets with historically longer or shorter ownership cycles have largely stayed that way, even as tenure has increased overall," Barber says.
What we're watching: Some golden handcuffs are starting to come loose.
- For the first time since 2020, the share of U.S. homeowners with mortgage rates of 6% or higher exceeds those with rates below 3%, a new Realtor.com analysis finds.
