There will be sellers in the D.C. region’s housing market next year, but there may be a shift in who those sellers are. Specifically, those who didn’t buy that long ago.
Listing service Bright MLS recently surveyed almost 1,600 current homeowners across the U.S., and found 32.2% of those planning to sell in 2025 have lived in their current home less than five years. That’s a big change.
“Typically, we have seen the length of time people remain in their homes longer and longer. People stay in their homes typically about 12 years. The fact that there is big group of homeowners ready to move more quickly suggests that this is very different era,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS, said. “There is a lot more equity that people have in their homes, and so they are able to move into that move-up home a little more quickly than prior generations.”
Those pandemic-era buyers now find themselves in a good position to buy up or move on. They locked in historically low mortgage rates, and many bought before home price appreciation significantly picked up as it did.
In the D.C. metro, home values have risen an average of 31% since the first quarter of 2020.
“I think those people who have built up equity in their home in the last few years are in a pretty good position to be out there in the housing market, despite the fact that mortgage rates are not going to fall as much as we would have liked. And despite the fact that prices are still high. That equity that they have is going to be the game changer that is going to allow more buyers to be in the market in 2025,” Sturtevant said.
The survey of current homeowners also found that only 6% of those aged 60 and older plan to sell in 2025. According to the survey, 60% of boomer respondents have lived in their home 20 years or longer and own it outright.
Another reason older owners won’t sell is that the traditional empty-nester downsizing of a home is not as simple as it used to be.
“I think the big obstacle for older homeowners who want to downsize is that there is so little inventory,” Sturtevant said. “There are so few listings available to downsize that they are going to remain where they are because if they sold they wouldn’t have anything to buy.”
Among boomer homeowners surveyed, 25.5% said they’d consider selling if they have somewhere to move to, and 30.5% said they would for the right price, but the majority of boomers said nothing could make them want to sell their home right now.
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