NYC homeowners live in their homes a median of 8.1 years

Property

Of Joyce Cohen

March 1, 2023 | 13:10

How Long Do Homeowner New Yorkers Live in Their Homes Before Selling?

A little over eight years.

The statistics — from a new PropertyShark report covering all five boroughs — contradict conventional pandemic wisdom that people have left the city in droves. Last year, New York City homeowners had a median tenure of 8.1 years — one year more than the median “homeownership” of 7.1 years in 2019.

The number crunching report shows that those who live in small homes – one- to four-family homes – stayed for nine to ten years. Unit owners sold after around seven years.

Two- to four-person homes in The Bronx had the lowest turnover, closely followed by single-family homes in Queens and Brooklyn. These happy residents lived for about 11 years.

Homeowners on Staten Island had the shortest period – about five years.

“While it seemed like the pandemic was causing everyone to move, expand or modify their current home, there were actually more risk-averse owners out there than trailblazers willing to just up and leave during a period of such stress and uncertainty, ” says the report. which covered sales for the past four years.

The decline in turnover may be due to the “golden handcuffs” phenomenon, the report states.

“While there will always be homeowners who need to sell because of major life events that force them to do so, most homeowners are quite reluctant to give up the 30-year fixed-rate mortgages they secured when interest rates were rock bottom. .”

When it came to sales, the size of the home didn’t matter much, except for tiny homes in The Bronx. For homes with less than 500 square meters, homeowners showed great stability, staying for almost 22 years.

When it comes to the age of the home, the highest turnover occurred in homes less than five years old. The median total employment period for these was 2.3 years. In Manhattan, that figure was just 1.4 years — possibly because new homes can be starter homes, with people upgrading soon after for a growing family or a better job.

New York City’s home ownership rate is among the lowest in the country. Many residents of apartment buildings are tenants.

When it comes to square footage, “generally, the larger the home, the more time the owners spent in it before selling,” the report said. But in Brooklyn and Staten Island, less is better. Owners there spent the least time in the largest homes, possibly due to higher maintenance costs.

A similar analysis in California found that homeowners in Elk Grove and nearby Sacramento lived an average of less than 2.5 years. Those in Salinas, the agricultural hub, stayed for more than 9 years.

The number of transactions in the city fell during the pandemic, with a low of 27,000 in 2020 and a high of 45,000 in 2021. Homeownership is defined as the time between the last sale date and the previous sale date. Homes without at least one previous transaction were not included in the data.