Aging Owners' Inventory Release Over Next Decade Unlikely to Solve Housing Shortage, Realtor.com Says

03:38 PM EDT, 10/05/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Aging US homeowners are expected to release nearly 14 million homes over the next 10 years, though the turnover alone is unlikely to help eliminate the country's housing gap, News Corp's (NWS, NWSA) Realtor.com said Monday. Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are likely to free up 13.9 million homes over the next decade, marking a 34% increase over what older households relinquished 10 years ago, or a 74% surge over what Boomers and the Silent Generation gave back a decade earlier, according to the online real estate portal. However, of the total, only 380,000 starter homes are expected to be relinquished by the older groups, partly because owners of smaller houses are more likely to have paid off their mortgages and stay put. Family homes account for 9.9 million of the total. The generational handoff includes homes vacated via death, a move to institutional care, household consolidation or a move to a rental, according to Realtor.com. "The handoff is a welcome relief, but it is not big enough to solve the housing shortage issue alone," Realtor.com Senior Economist Jiayi Xu said. "Keeping homeownership within reach for the next generation, and keeping these homes a source of family wealth, will still take more supply, especially homes first-time buyers can afford, particularly in expensive markets." Although houses freed up by the aging population help ease inventory constraints caused by underbuilding and rate lock-in, they are not likely to arrive all at once, Realtor.com said. The entry-level segment, where the shortage is most acute for first-time homebuyers, gets the least relief, while affordability is expected to see a "smaller improvement" over the next 10 years, according to the report. Earlier this year, a report by Realtor.com showed that new home construction in the US last year fell short of household formations, increasing the housing supply gap to an estimated 4.03 million units. The influx of inventory is expected to concentrate primarily in Rust Belt and Midwest markets rather than expensive coastal cities, the Monday report showed, citing the National Association of Home Builders. The expanding housing stock will "gradually" reduce prices, particularly for family and large homes and in slow growth markets, rather than a broad nationwide drop. Last month, homebuilder KB Home (KBH) cut its full-year housing gross profit margin estimates amid weaker market conditions and affordability pressures. Rival Lennar (LEN) reported weaker-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results as affordability challenges slowed home-buying activity. Price: 31.96, Change: +0.31, Percent Change: +0.98