Everybody Is One House Out of Position

By: J. David Chapman, PhD, / September 11, 2026

For generations, Americans climbed a fairly predictable housing ladder. We rented an apartment, bought a starter home, moved into something larger when the kids came along, downsized when they left, and eventually found a home better suited for retirement.

That ladder isn't working quite like it used to. New research from Bank of America Institute finds that Americans are moving less. Some are constrained by housing prices and the overall cost of living. Others are wearing what the real estate industry has come to call the “golden handcuffs” - a mortgage rate so low that moving to another house simply doesn't make financial sense.

The result is more significant than fewer moving trucks on Saturday morning. When people stop moving, the entire housing market becomes less fluid. The young family stays in the starter home. The empty nesters remain in the four-bedroom house. The first-time buyer waits for a house that never comes onto the market.

Everybody ends up one house out of position. That should matter to Oklahoma. Our relatively affordable housing has long been one of our competitive advantages, and it may become even more valuable as housing costs constrain mobility elsewhere. People and employers looking at Oklahoma aren't simply comparing wages or tax rates. They are comparing what kind of life those wages can buy and housing is a huge part of that calculation.

But affordability alone isn't enough. We also need variety. A healthy housing market needs apartments, starter homes, townhouses, duplexes, family homes, condominiums and attractive places for people to downsize. It needs housing at different price points and for different stages of life. When one piece is missing, the effects ripple throughout the market. The retiree who can't find an appealing place to downsize doesn't sell the house that might have become another family's next home.

This is one of the arguments I made in subURBAN!: successful communities don't simply need more housing. They need more choices.

There is another consequence of Americans staying put. If people aren't relocating, many will adapt the homes they already have. That means renovations, additions, accessory dwelling units and modifications that allow people to age in place may become increasingly important parts of our housing market.

And perhaps the biggest change is philosophical. For decades, we designed American communities around the assumption that people would move when their housing needs changed.

Increasingly, they don't. That means the house, and the neighborhood, may have to change with them.

Dr. J. David Chapman is Chair of Finance & Professor of Real Estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).