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So many people moved last year, they caused the overall median length of tenure in an American home to stay nearly constant, according to new research published by Redfin this morning.

Redfin’s economics team analyzed county sales data across the country to determine that the median American homeowner in 2021 had spent 13.2 years in their home. That’s down slightly from 2020 (13.5 years) and 2019 (13.3 years).

However, it’s a far cry from the median in 2012, when the median American had only spent 10.1 years in their home even as much of the country had just finished clawing its way out of the Great Recession.

A combination of supply restrictions that put strong upward pressure on home prices over the last 10 years and some older buyers’ desires to “age in place” kept pushing tenure up during the 2010s, Redfin researchers said, and it seems like neither factor is poised to go away soon.

Massachusetts, for example, saw its lowest monthly housing inventory level in 23 years in January according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. A mere 2,387 single-family homes and 1,498 condominiums were on the market that month, 50.1 percent and 56.1 percent drops year-over-year, respectively.

And fully one-third of U.S. household heads were at least 65 years old in 2019, up from 28 percent in 2012, Redfin reported, with the share expected to grow even further in the coming years as the Baby Boom generation ages. A Freddie Mac report from 2019 cited by Redfin researchers estimated that this generation’s preference for aging in their current homes was keeping 1.6 million homes off the market nation-wide.

“Homeowner tenure may have already peaked, or the decline in 2021 could be a blip before it climbs back up,” Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather said in a statement. “There are competing forces at work. Remote work is encouraging homeowners to sell their homes in expensive cities and move to more affordable areas, which could pull tenure down. But on the flip side, rising mortgage rates may discourage people from selling and older Americans are staying put longer, which could push it back up.”

Redfin’s report did not include statistics for any Massachusetts metro areas, but reported data for several comparable East Coast metros.

In the well-heeled Fairfield County area around Bridgeport, Connecticut saw its median homeowner tenure jump from 9.9 years  in 2012 to 13.6 years in 2021. The area’s year-end median home price for 2021 was $602,500 for single-family homes and $305,000 for condos according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

In and around Hartford, Connecticut, tenure jumped from 9.3 years to 13.4 years over the same time period, with a year-end median single-family sale price of $280,000 and a median condo sale price of $180,000 in 2021.

And in the Washington, D.C. area, tenure hit 14.2 years last year, up from 10.4 years in 2012 with a median sale price for single-family homes and condominiums combined of $489,000, according to Redfin.

So Many People Moved Last Year, Homeowner Tenure Flatlined

by James Sanna time to read: 2 min
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