Americans are holding onto their homes for record lengths of time before selling.
The average homeownership tenure rose to 8.55 years at the end of 2025, according to ATTOM, a real estate data firm.
The findings marked the longest off-market time for American homes in at least 25 years.
The trend is driven in large part by a “lock-in effect,” in which more homeowners are delaying moving house in favor of holding onto their ultra-low mortgage rates of yesteryear. Even downsizing or moving to a comparable home could result in substantially higher monthly payments for those with low pandemic-era rates.
The golden handcuffs of low rates are made even tighter by limited housing inventory and high asking prices nationwide.
Elevated mortgage rates since 2022 have led to a more sluggish housing market increasingly reliant upon all-cash deals. Home sales made in cash approached 40% in 2025, the highest level seen since 2013.
Nowhere is the trend more pronounced than in pricey coastal states.
Massachusetts led all 50 states with an average homeowner tenure of 13.29 years, up by 4.1% annually.
Connecticut homeowners weren’t far behind, waiting 13.02 years to move elsewhere. California put up the third longest home tenures in the US, with average stays totaling 11.24 years.
All three coastal states face structural supply constraints and high replacement costs, Hannah Jones, an senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com, told News Nation.
“These states tend to have some of the nation’s highest home prices, stricter land-use regulations, and limited opportunities for large-scale new construction. As a result, moving within these markets often implies a meaningful step up in housing costs,” Jones told the outlet.
Maine, on the other hand, put up the nation’s shortest homeownership tenure at just 4.8 years — less than half the national average. The gap between tenures in Massachusetts and Maine spans nearly 8.5 years.
Mississippi and South Dakota tied for the second-lowest tenure at 5.59 years each.
There are signs the lock-in effect is easing, however. A higher share of American homeowners now carry mortgage rates above 6%, rather than below 3%, potentially paving the way for a smaller contingent of leery sellers.
