Homeownership
Average Square Footage of a House in the US, and Why New Homes Are Getting Smaller
A three-bedroom house with a modest kitchen, one bathroom, and a backyard used to satisfy plenty of American families. Extra bedrooms were…
Topic
Homeownership
Homeownership tends to look simpler on paper than it feels in a checking account.
It includes ownership rates, affordability, mortgage costs, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, and the differences between what a house is worth and what it costs to live in it.
We also look at who is getting into the market, who is being pushed further away from it, and why the answer can change sharply by age, income, and location.
Reports
Homeownership
The Average First-Time Home Buyer Is Now 40, a Record High
Buying your first home used to be something Americans expected to do in their late 20s or early 30s. Today, reaching that…
Homeownership
How Long Does It Take to Sell a House Right Now, From Listing to Closing
Finding someone willing to buy your house and actually receiving the money are two very different milestones. A property might attract an…
Homeownership
More Than a Quarter of Homes Sold in August Were Paid For in Cash
After spending years discussing offers across kitchen tables, we learned that sellers liked certainty almost as much as a good price. That…
Homeownership
Millions of Flood-Prone Homes Have No Flood Insurance
We’ve seen buyers worry about everything inside a house, including an aging furnace, a suspicious crack in the basement wall, and roof…
Homeownership
Just 36.8% of Americans Under 35 Own Their Home in 2026
Only 36.8% of U.S. households headed by someone under 35 owned their home in 2026. At first glance, that number seems to…
Homeownership
Nearly One in Four U.S. Homes Faces Severe Climate Risk
Climate risk has become one of those housing subjects that can produce a frightening headline before anyone has read the footnotes. About…