Multigeneration households are quietly reshaping housing demand in the U.S. with sellers asking for 65% more for multigenerational homes amid high competition, especially in Southern and Eastern markets where supply is thin, according to a new report from Realtor.com
Look at this way: Mother’s Day is just round the corner, and Realtor.com reports that nearly 3 million owner-occupied homes nationwide have at least two mothers living under one roof among the nearly 4 million multigenerational households. Multigenerational houses are homes whose descriptions include keywords such as “guest house,” “in-law suite,” or “granny-flat,” Realtor.com said.
“Multigenerational living is a meaningful force in the housing market,” said Hannah Jones, Senior Economic Research Analyst at Realtor.com. “A sense of shared purpose and care is at the heart of multigenerational living, a housing arrangement that is quietly shaping American family life. What stands out in this data is that buyers are not being deterred by the higher price tags. The demand is strong and in a few parts of the country, the supply is struggling to keep up.”
Realtor.com noted that in 2024, 4.5% of all owner-occupied households were multigenerational, defined as containing three or more generations, which was up from 4.3% in 2019. The typical multigenerational household includes five people sharing a four-bedroom home, with a median annual household income of $131,000, Realtor.com noted.
Higher Prices
In 2025, Realtor.com said, the median list price for a multigenerational house on its website was $709,000, roughly 65% higher than the $429,900 median for a standard listing.
Realtor.com noted that some of the premium is due to the fact that multigenerational homes are typically larger-sized. But even on a per-square-foot basis, these homes ask $262 per-square-foot versus $215 for standard homes, a 22% premium driven by specialized features such as in-law suites, secondary kitchens, and dual entries, as well as their concentration in high-cost coastal markets, according to Realtor.com.
Multigenerational listings received 13.5% more page views than standard homes and sold in the same median timeframe 59 days, suggesting tht demand is keeping pace with the higher price point.
Regionally, the supply picture is very uneven, Realtor.com said.
Western metros, it said, account for the highest share of multigenerational home listings, averaging around 14%, compared to 6.1% in the South, 5.3% in the Northeast, and just 2.9% in the Midwest. All five of the top metros by multigenerational listing share are in California: Los Angeles (23.7%), San Diego (22.7%), San Jose (18.0%), San Francisco (17.4%), and Riverside (14.9%).
In California, It’s Common
In California, multigenerational homes are more common and priced accordingly, Realtor.com noted. In Los Angeles, for example, the premium over a standard listing is just 1.6%. In San Francisco, it is 8.4%. Cultural tradition, housing costs, and an existing stock of purpose-built or adapted homes have made extended family living a mainstream option there.
The story is different in the Midwest and parts of the South, Realtor.com noted.
Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo rank among the lowest metros for multigenerational listing share — 2.0%, 3.1%, and 2.5%, respectively — yet buyers in those see asking price premiums of 120%, 107%, and 94% over standard listings when a multigenerational home does come up for sale, the website stated. Detroit listings attract 82% more page views than standard homes. Cleveland is close behind at 78%.
“In markets like Detroit and Cleveland, multigenerational homes are a rare find, and when one hits the market, buyers respond,” Jones said. “The strong demand and steep premiums we are seeing in inventory-constrained markets point to a real mismatch between what buyers are looking for and what is actually available. For sellers in these markets, this type of home can be a significant asset.”
Multigenerational households reflect the diversity of American family life, Realtor.com said. Among owner-occupied multigenerational households, 44.9% are White, 25.8% are Hispanic, 13.5% are Black, and 11.1% are Asian, the website noted. The arrangement is most prevalent in urban markets in the West and along the East Coast.
“While the share of multigenerational households held steady over the past decade, the number of families choosing to live this way grew from 3.2 million to 3.9 million between 2014 and 2024, a sign that multigenerational living is becoming an increasingly common choice for American families as high housing and childcare costs create strong reasons for co-living,” said Jiayi Xu, an Economist at Realtor.com.
