Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage, has officially published results from its latest report, which revealed that almost a third (33.6%) of U.S. renters have lived in the same home for at least five years, up from 28.4% a decade ago.
More on that report would reveal that, while the majority of renters move within five years, including 25.6% moving within 12 months and 40.8% moving between 1-4 years, the soaring cost of buying a home has convinced a good chunk to stay put for longer. You see, extravagant cost of moving, or paying rental brokers in cities like New York, would also discourage renters from moving regularly.
This is largely why nearly one in six (17%) renters has lived in the same property between 5-9 years in 2023, compared to 14.4% in 2013. The stated number almost matches the contingent (16.6%) which has stayed in the same home for more than 10 years, compared to 13.9% a decade earlier.
Another interesting detail uncovered by Redfin’s report is rooted in the fact that older renters are more likely to stay in the same home longer than younger renters. To contextualize this, we must touch upon a finding which says more than a third (34.1%) of baby boomers have lived in the same home for at least 10 years, the most of any generation, while on the other hand, an estimated 56% have stayed put for at least five years.
Against that, more than half of Gen Z renters (52.4%) had lived in their home for less than a year in 2023, the highest share among the generations.
“Monthly mortgage payments have nearly tripled over the past decade, preventing many renters from being able to buy a home,” said Sheharyar Bokhari, Senior Economist at Redfin. “Rents spiked during the pandemic, but have stayed relatively flat over the past two years as home prices and mortgage rates continued to climb. That has encouraged renters to stay in the same home, where they are less likely to face major rent increases. The recent construction boom has also led to a record number of new apartments hitting the market, keeping rents down and setting 2025 up as a renter’s market where more Americans will choose to rent, or remain renters.”
Moving on, Redfin report further informed us on how renters move most often in metros which became popular during the pandemic, including Denver, where 38% of renters stayed put for 12 months or less in 2023. For better understanding, this would be the highest share of the 50 most populous U.S. metros. Beyond that, we had Austin, TX (37.8%) and Salt Lake City, UT (36.9%).
Next up, it must was figured that renters tend to stay put longest in metros where the cost of buying a home is out of reach for many, led by New York, where just 14.9% of renters moved in 12 months or less in 2023. Beyond that, cities like Los Angeles (16.7%) and Riverside, CA (18.9%) also joined the mix.
With renters moving less than they did before throughout 50 most populous metros in Redfin’s analysis, at least one in five renters was found to stay in the same home for more than 10 years. A more specific lowdown here would include New York (32.6%), Los Angeles (27.8%), San Francisco (26.4%), Providence, RI (20.9%) and Riverside, CA (20%).
Finally, our last piece of highlight stems from a piece of data which says that less than one in 10 renters stayed within the same home for more than 10 years across 11 of the top 50 metros, led by Austin, TX (6%), Raleigh, NC (8.2%), Orlando, FL (8.2%), Jacksonville, FL (8.8%) and Denver (8.8%).
Founded in 2004, Redfin’s rise up the ranks is orchestrated by its track record of helping people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, and title insurance services. Understood to be the country’s #1 real estate brokerage site, the company’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider it has, thus far, saved customers more than $1.6 billion in commissions.
