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WoodScientist@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

I was shocked to learn that the average homeowner in the US lives in their house for only 7 years.

I wonder how much of this is a question of what average is being used. It’s the old median vs mean problem.

Elon Musk and a hundred homeless people are in a room. By the mean, the average person in that room is a billionaire. By the median, the average person is homeless.

I’m really curious whether that 7 year average figure is based on the median or mean. Because I could see it being really skewed by young people in their twenties that move around a lot.

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scytale@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

skewed by young people in their twenties that move around a lot.

Those people tend to rent and not own though.

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- WoodScientist@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Sure. But I think the seven year figure is how often people “on average” move, not just how often people sell and buy new homes.
  
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  - scytale@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    I did a quick search and apparently it’s around 12 years in 2024 now.
    
    In 2024, the average length of U.S. homeownership is 11.9 years. While this number is nearly double the length of 6.5 years in 2006, home ownership has been on the decline since 2020
    
    https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/what-is-the-average-length-of-home-ownership.html
    
    So this is actually only counting people who bought a home and moved out later, not just people moving in general.
    
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