Nearly 16 percent of the single-family homes in the commonwealth have not changed owners in 30 years or more, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

All told, about 200,000 single-family homes statewide had no change in ownership in at least 30 years. That figure excludes what The Warren Group calls “nominal sales” where – for example – an elderly homeowner sells their property to a relative for $1 or some other nominal amount to avoid going through Probate Court in the event of the homeowner’s death. Including nominal sales would have made the number significantly higher.

Right in the middle of the pack is Braintree, which holds the distinction of having the median percentage of single-family homes that haven’t changed owners at just under 15.08 percent. That suburb, sitting just 12 miles, south of Boston, has a population of about 35,000; of the 9,040 single-family homes in its 13.9 square miles, 1,363 haven’t changes hands since the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke the 2,000 mark.

The largest concentration of homes with longer-term ownership is in Boston. Of the top 12 communities (excluding communities with fewer than 700 single-family homes in total) with the highest concentrations of these homes, 10 of them are neighborhoods in the city of Boston.

The communities with the smallest percentage of single-family homes that haven’t changed owners in 30 years don’t fall into any discernible pattern. They are (in ascending order): Worcester, Winthrop, New Bedford, Ashby, Medfield, Wellesley, Brockton, Barnstable, Osterville, Chelsea, New Bedford and Cotuit.

Solution To The Inventory Problem?

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported there were 11,447 homes on the market in Massachusetts at the end of January, down more than 35 percent from the previous year, which was already considered low. January was the 59th consecutive month of year-over-year decreases.

Realtors have been decrying low inventory for years. It’s tempting to think many of those 200,000 homeowners, with 30 years of equity, likely a paid-off mortgage and a guaranteed return on their 30-year-old investment, would be looking to sell soon – but that’s not the case, said Jack Gately, owner of Jack Gately Real Estate and Canal Real Estate School.

“I think if those people wanted to move they’d have moved already,” he said. “The solution to the low inventory problem is higher home values. The reason people aren’t moving like they used to is because people don’t have as much equity. Americans tend to move about every seven to eight years, so people who bought in 2002 through 2008 should have moved [already], but a lot of them have minimal equity and they may not qualify for a mortgage under today’s stricter rules.”

The National Association of Realtors’ 2016 home seller profile said most of the people who sold their homes in 2015 had lived there for nine years.

Gately, a Mattapan native, said he wasn’t surprised to see his home town topping the list of homes that haven’t changed owners.

“Mattapan hasn’t gotten the Boston bump in values like other communities, so there isn’t the motivation to sell,” Gately said. “That neighborhood is underappreciated and still a good value.”

Loan Product Candidates

Of those 200,000 homes, 84 percent are owner-occupied, which is one of the requirements for a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), commonly called a reverse mortgage. It stands to reason that someone who has owned the same home for 30 or more years has some equity and would likely be old enough to qualify.

HECM expert Ed Barrett, vice president and senior loan officer for Salem Five, said these homeowners are likely to be good candidates to tap into their equity to help pay living expenses while on a fixed income, or possibly to pay off other liens.

“We don’t know what their financial behavior has been throughout their life,” he said. “How many times have they refinanced the equity? How much is left?”

These residents are likely at or near retirement age, and depending on the rest of their financial information, they could be good candidates for an HECM, Barrett said.

“Some folks have more month left at the end of their money,” he said. “Those folks, whether they have 100 percent equity or they have liens or other debt, they likely have equity and a reverse mortgage could open up access to that equity. It might help them make monthly mortgages if they still have one. That’s a common use for HECMs.”

Homeowners who have been in their home for 30 years may be seniors who want to “age in place” and stay in their homes as long as possible, said George Downey of Harbor Mortgage Solutions in Braintree.

“The challenge is now is that we’re on the back side of the Great Recession,” he said. “The average senior lost 40 percent of their savings through market losses and shrunken home values. Plus, they’re living longer on smaller nest eggs. You’ve got a lot of that in Greater Boston. Traditional financial planning strategies have to be reordered because they’ve traditionally overlooked home equity.”