Los Angeles homeowners hold on to their real estate the longest, for more than 20 years, according to a recent Redfin report that compiled data from 2005 to 2025. That's the most of any U.S. metropolitan area, up from an average of 19.4 years in 2024. The region also had one of the highest increases in home tenure: Over the last decade from 2015 to 2025, median tenure in the LA area increased by five years.
San Jose properties also tend to stay in the same hands for an extended period, with the Bay Area metro coming in second. Homeowners there hang on for a median tenure of 18.7 years, and that duration was also up drastically from 2015, with an additional 4.8 years.
State tax laws are a driving force for long tenures, incentivizing homeowners to remain in their properties. Proposition 13, passed in 1978, keeps property tax bills from being tied to current market value and instead caps yearly increases at just 2%. Since its passage, there have been numerous attempts to alter Prop 13 — as well as legislation proposed to incentivize homeowners to move — but none have caused much meaningful change.
"You can see just how much of an outlier California is in this data," said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's chief economist. "This phenomenon exists in other states, but it's the most extreme in California, and California has been dealing with the consequences longer."
Homeowners in San Francisco keep their properties for an average of 16.5 years, with that number growing by 3.4 years since 2015. Fairweather said the rate at which residents left the San Francisco metro area in the early years of the pandemic may have helped push it down on the list, as it reset the clock on some properties.
San Diego homeowners kept their homes for the 13th longest time in the U.S. at 14.5 years, rising 1.3 years since 2015. Further down the list at No. 20, Riverside homeowners kept their homes 12.4 years, up 0.5 years since 2015.
Home values have skyrocketed in the coastal metros over the past decade, much more so than in inland California, which "gives you even more of a reason to stay put," Fairweather said.
Sacramento homeowners keep their properties for 12 years, but it's the only California city that saw a decrease in median tenure since 2015. That number is down 0.2 years since then. No California city was below the national average of 12 years.
California is mirroring a nationwide trend, though, with homeowners across the country staying in their homes longer in 2025. It's not quite at the peak of 13.4 years in 2020, but the national median is almost double what it was in 2005, at 6.5 years on average. A large portion of the homeowners who aren't moving are Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, especially in California.
"Part of the reason they're not moving has to do with the tax code, but another big part of the reason is they don't have options of where to go," Fairweather said, noting that increasing the inventory of senior-oriented communities where older residents actually want to move could make a big difference in California's housing stock.
A previous Redfin analysis showed that empty nester baby boomers own nearly 30% of the country's three-bedroom-plus homes (3 in 10). Meanwhile, millennials with kids only own about half that amount at around 14%. Still, this could change in the next decade or two. "These people aren't going to live forever, so even if they don't move out, this housing will turn over eventually," Fairweather said. "In the 2030s, we could see a very large increase in homes for sale simply because the owners of those homes are passing on at a faster rate."
Homeowners in the Louisville, Kentucky, metro area stayed in their homes for the shortest amount of time, at an average of 8.3 years. Las Vegas homeowners also kept homes for a relatively short period, at 8.8 years.
Redfin used historical county records to calculate the analysis.
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