D-FW homeowners are staying put the longest since 2000

Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners are staying in their houses for the longest time in at least 25 years, largely thanks to their low mortgage rates, data shows.

The big picture: Sellers at the end of 2025 had owned their homes for an average of 7.7 years in D-FW — a record in data going back to early 2000, when the average was just over 2 years.

• The nationwide average was 8.6 years at the end of 2025, up from 4.2 years in 2000.

State of play: Homeowner tenure has increased steadily in almost every major metro area over the past two decades, according to ATTOM, an industry data provider.

• The "trend is especially pronounced in coastal and Northeast metros, where tenure often exceeds a decade, while many Sun Belt and Midwest markets continue to see comparatively shorter ownership periods," CEO Rob Barber tells Axios.

Zoom out: Before changing hands late last year, homes in Barnstable, Massachusetts (14.1 years); Springfield, Massachusetts (13.5 years); and New Haven, Connecticut (13.4 years), saw the longest average ownership among metros with at least 200,000 residents.

• Provo, Utah (6.9 years), Crestview, Florida (7 years) and Oklahoma City (7.3 years) posted the shortest tenures.

Context: In the last quarter of 2019, D-FW sellers had lived in their houses for 6.7 years, a full year less than in the last quarter of 2025.

• The average tenure in Texas at the end of 2025 was 7.59 years, slightly lower than in the Dallas metro.

Stunning stat: Institutional investors bought 6.6% of all homes sold in the U.S. in 2025 as median home sale prices reach record highs, per ATTOM.

• Texas and Tennessee had the highest rates at 9.2% of home sales.
• Dallas was among the metros with the highest share of sales to investors at 11.1%.