Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

How Long Are DC Homeowners Staying Put? A Long Time

  • April 27th

by UrbanTurf Staff

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

Homeowners in the DC area are holding onto their properties longer than ever.

According to new data from ATTOM, the average homeownership tenure in the DC metro hit a record high of 9.27 years in the first quarter of 2026 — a figure that reflects the broader national trend of homeowners staying put. Inside the District itself, the numbers tell an even more striking story, with several zip codes clocking average tenures well above 10 years.

Leading the pack are 20036 (Dupont Circle/Logan Circle) and 20019 (Deanwood/Capitol Heights), where homeowners are averaging 11.38 and 11.32 years respectively — nearly identical figures that nonetheless reveal something interesting about the city's housing landscape. The pairing of two zip codes on opposite sides of the city speaks to just how broadly the lock-in effect has taken hold across income levels and geographies. In both cases, homeowners who bought years ago are sitting on significant equity — and have little financial incentive to move.

tenure.jpg
Click to enlarge.

The cluster of Northwest DC zip codes rounding out the top seven — 20008 (Cleveland Park/Woodley Park), 20005 (Shaw/Thomas Circle), 20037 (Foggy Bottom/West End), and 20016 (Tenleytown/AU Park) — reinforces a pattern UrbanTurf has been tracking for several years now: longtime owners in amenity-rich neighborhoods are holding tight. With home values in many of these corridors having appreciated substantially since the mid-2010s, the calculus for selling simply doesn't pencil out for most, particularly those locked into sub-3% mortgages from 2020 and 2021.

Rounding out the list is 20012, covering Takoma and Brightwood, where the average tenure of 9.97 years is essentially at the record-high regional mark — and still a full year above where DC as a whole stood just a few years ago. 

See other articles related to: homeownership tenure

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/how_long_are_dc_homeowners_staying_put_a_long_time/24563.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse