America’s Homes Are Aging and Crumbling, but Homeowner Equity Is Going Elsewhere

The U.S. isn’t just dealing with a housing inventory shortage. It’s living with an aging housing stock that badly needs updates and repairs.New analysis from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies finds that 1 in 4 homeowners lives in a home built before 1960, and millions of these homes have problems ranging from holes in the floor to failing heating and plumbing.Many of those owners may feel stuck, with low inventory and mortgage rates well above COVID-19 pandemic-era lows. Record home equity gives them a way to pay for fixes through a home equity line of credit (HELOC).But lender data shows that a shrinking share of home equity borrowers cite renovations as their main reason for borrowing, while more are using the money to manage debt.America’s homes need reinvestmentAccording to the American Housing Survey, whose most recent data comes from 2023, the nation’s housing stock is the oldest it has ever been, with a median age of 44 years.That age carries a financial cost. A 2025 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimated that nearly half of owner-occupied homes built before 1940 needed at least one repair in 2024, compared with 26% of homes built ...