I was surprised to learn that the national average age of home sellers in 2023 was 60. I would have guessed younger. Here are some numbers from the National Association of Realtors seller profile for the last year:
- The typical home seller was 60 years old, unchanged from last year.
- For all sellers, the most commonly cited reason for selling their home was the desire to move closer to friends and family (23%), because the home is too small (13%), or a change in the family situation such as marriage, divorce, or new child (10%).
- Sellers typically lived in their home for 10 years before selling. Among seven of the last 10 years, the typical tenure has been 10 years.
- 39% of sellers traded up to a larger home and 33% purchased a smaller home.
- 89% of home sellers worked with a real estate agent to sell their home, 7% sold via FSBO, and less than 1% sold via iBuyer.
- For recently sold homes, the final sales price was a median of 100% of the final listing price, maintaining last year’s highest recorded since 2002.
- Recently sold homes were on the market for a median of two weeks, unchanged from last year.
- 92% of sellers were at least somewhat satisfied with the selling process.
Home buyers love to ask why the house is on the market and why the owners are moving. The answer is almost always about some kind of a change in their circumstances rather than some big problem with the house.
