U.S. homeowners are staying put in their current homes longer than at any point in the past quarter century — and those that do choose to move are increasingly eschewing financing and using cash to purchase their next domicile.

Those trends were revealed in a report released this week by Attom, a real estate data analytics company.

During the third quarter of 2025, homeowners who sold their home had owned it for an average of 8.39 years, up from 8.13 years in the second quarter. Attom noted that is “the longest tenure in at least 25 years.”

The company cited several reasons for the rising homeownership tenure, including persistently high mortgage rates that have made homeowners who locked in at lower rates reluctant to take on a new mortgage. Attom also pointed to “limited inventory and elevated home prices” keeping people anchored in their current homes.

Massachusetts had the longest average homeownership tenure during the third quarter at 12.91 years, with homeowners choosing not to sell 2% longer on average than the prior quarter and 1.1% longer than the previous year. The Bay State was followed by Connecticut (average tenure of 12.66 years), California (11.2 years), Rhode Island (11 years) and Washington (10.74 years).

Bringing up the rear during the past quarter was Maine, with an average tenure of 4.8 years, followed by Mississippi (5.71 years), South Dakota (5.79 years), West Virginia (6.04 years) and Georgia (6.11 years).

Attom also observed an increase in all-cash home sales, which rose to 38.9% nationwide in the third quarter compared to 37.6% during the third quarter of 2024.

The report posited that the avoidance of financing may reflect an uptick in investor-buyers and downsizing homeowners using accumulated equity for their next home purchase.