New York City homeowners live in their homes an average of 8.1 years

Real estate

by Joyce Cohen

March 1, 2023 | 1:10 p.m

How long does it take for New York homeowners to stay in their homes before selling?

Just over eight years.

Statistics – again Feature A report covering all five boroughs — belying conventional epidemiological wisdom that people are leaving the city in droves. Last year, the median homeownership period in New York City was 8.1 years — more than the median Home Ownership Term of 7.1 years in 2019.

The report shows grinding numbers That those who lived in tiny homes—one- to four-family dwellings—stayed from nine to 10 years. Co-operative owners sold after about seven years.

Four-family homes in the Bronx had the lowest turnover, followed by single-family homes in Queens and Brooklyn. These happy residents stayed for about 11 years.

Staten Island homeowners had the shortest tenure—about five years.

“Although it seemed like the pandemic had everyone moving, enlarging, or changing their existing home, there were in fact more risk-averse owners than pioneers willing to up and leave during a time of such stress and uncertainty,” says the report, which covered the sales. in the past four years.

The slowdown in turnover may be due togolden handcuffsphenomenon, says the report.

“Although there will always be homeowners who need to sell because major life events force them to do so, most homeowners are quite reluctant to part with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgages they took out when interest rates were rock bottom. “

When it comes to makeover, house size doesn’t matter much, except when it comes to tiny homes in The Bronx. For homes under 500 square feet, homeowners have shown great stability, staying for about 22 years.

As for the age of the home, the highest turnover occurred in homes less than five years old. The average total duration of that period was 2.3 years. In Manhattan, that number was only 1.4 years old—perhaps because new homes may be starter homes, with people upgrading soon afterward for a growing family or a better job.

The homeownership rate in New York City is among the lowest in the country. Many of the occupants of multi-family homes are renters.

When it comes to square feet, “generally, the larger the home, the more time owners will spend in it before selling,” says the report. But in Brooklyn and Staten Island, smaller is better. Owners there spend the least amount of time in the largest homes, possibly because of the higher maintenance costs.

A similar analysis was shown in California That homeowners in Elk Grove and nearby Sacramento have lived, on average, less than 2.5 years. Residents of Salinas, the agricultural center, have stayed for more than 9 years.

The number of transactions in the city has decreased during the pandemic, dropping to 27,000 in 2020 and as high as 45,000 in 2021. Duration of home ownership is defined as the time between the last sale date and the prior sale date. Homes without at least one previous transaction were not included in the data.