0&&s)if(o){var a,r=(a=e.newCount)>99;s.textContent=r?"99+":a+"",null===(n=s.parentElement)||void 0===n||n.classList.add(Jn)}else s.style.display="block"},f=function(){u.refreshPanel().then(m).then(te).catch((function(){}))};if(e.addEventListener("close-all-menus",(function(){ke(c)||d()})),c){f();var v=setInterval((function(){f()}),3e5);e.onDestroy((function(){clearInterval(v)})),o?l&&l.addEventListener("mouseenter",(function(){p(),null==n||n.show()})):c.addEventListener("mouseenter",(function(){p(),null==n||n.show()})),c.addEventListener("mouseleave",(function(){d(),null==n||n.hide()}))}e.addElementListener(i,"click",(function(){ee("ybar","notification","",{elm:"btn",elmt:"block"===(null==s?void 0:s.style.display)?"newalert":"",subsec:"notification",itc:"1"})})),a&&Se(e,a,"ybar","notification",{elm:"expand",subsec:"notifications",itc:"2"}),e.addElementListener(r,"focusin",(function(){i&&(i.checked=!0),null==r||r.classList.add("ybarMenuOpen")})),e.addElementListener(r,"focusout",d),e.addElementListener(t.tooltipContainer,"focusin",(function(){null==n||n.show()})),e.addElementListener(t.tooltipContainer,"focusout",(function(){null==n||n.hide()}));var y=e.getConfig().device,h=document.getElementById("ybar");h&&h.classList.contains("ybar-ytheme-crunch")&&(io=0);var b=new RegExp("[?&]notifications=1(&|#|$)");"desktop"===y&&i&&b.test(window.location.search)&&(i.checked=!0)};be("ybar-mod-notification",(function(e){var t={isUH3:"crunch"===e.getConfig().ytheme,notifContainer:document.getElementById("notification-container"),notifBadge:document.getElementById("notif-badge"),notifMenu:document.getElementById("ybarNotificationMenu"),notifMenuOpener:document.querySelector("#ybarNotificationMenu + label"),notifDropdown:document.getElementById("notifDropdownContainer"),tooltipContainer:document.querySelector(".".concat(Vn)),notifLabel:document.querySelector(".".concat($n))};t.notifDropdown&&ro(e,t)}))}()}};]]>Lance LambertTue, Jul 29, 2025, 4:05 PM 2 min readWant more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.Most Read from Fast CompanyThe real reason a staggering 40% of U.S. homeowners are mortgage-freeTsunami warning tracker: Map and online tool let you follow alerts in real time after massive earthquakeFigma’s IPO date is close. The stock could trade even higher after the design startup’s latest moveHere’s a stat that would likely make financial adviser and radio personality Dave Ramsey—who has long advocated for Americans to pay off their mortgages early as a key pillar of his debt-free philosophy—at least somewhat pleased: A staggering 39.8% of U.S. owner-occupied housing units in 2023 were mortgage-free, marking a new high for this data series. That’s up from 39.3% in 2022 and 32.8% in 2010.Among the 85.7 million U.S. homeowner occupied households, 34.1 million are mortgage-free. The other 51.6 million have an outstanding mortgage.So why did I say it’d only make Dave Ramsey “somewhat pleased”?Well, the reason is that a higher percentage of Americans are mortgage-free isn’t necessarily because so many are paying off their mortgages faster. Instead, it reflects a powerful underlying demographic shift: the aging composition of the American population.As Americans live longer, the U.S. fertility rate declines, and the massive baby boomer generation ages into their senior years, the U.S. population has skewed older. Since older homeowners are more likely to have paid off their mortgages, the aging composition of the American population means a larger share of homeowners are achieving mortgage-free status each year.The other thing is that when older Americans sell their house and buy another home, they’re more likely to rollover their equity and purchase that next home in all-cash.Given that most demographic forecasts expect the composition of the American population to continue shifting upward in age, the share of mortgage-free households could also continue rising in the years to come. The wild card? If reverse mortgages get more popular and more older Americans take on mortgage debt again to tap into their equity.This post originally appeared at fastcompany.comSubscribe to get the Fast Company newsletter: http://fastcompany.com/newslettersTerms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore InfoS&P 5006,362.90 -7.96 (-0.12%)Dow 3044,461.28 -171.71 (-0.38%)Nasdaq21,129.67 +31.38 (+0.15%)Russell 20002,232.40 -10.57 (-0.47%)VIX15.48 -0.50 (-3.13%)Gold3,329.70 -23.10 (-0.69%)PortfolioSign in to access your portfolioSign inTop gainersWING Wingstop Inc. 368.26 +77.96 (+26.85%)FTAI FTAI Aviation Ltd. 144.46 +30.32 (+26.56%)PIII P3 Health Partners Inc. 7.30 +1.50 (+25.86%)GNRC Generac Holdings Inc. 181.00 +29.68 (+19.61%)TER Teradyne, Inc. 107.65 +17.10 (+18.88%)Top losersNEGG Newegg Commerce, Inc. 44.97 -11.22 (-19.97%)CAR Avis Budget Group, Inc. 172.46 -31.42 (-15.41%)SLGN Silgan Holdings Inc. 47.30 -8.50 (-15.23%)CHKP Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. 186.67 -31.66 (-14.50%)ENTG Entegris, Inc. 79.34 -13.41 (-14.46%)Most activeSOFI SoFi Technologies, Inc. 21.87 -0.53 (-2.37%)NVDA NVIDIA Corporation 179.27 +3.76 (+2.14%)LCID Lucid Group, Inc. 2.5000 -0.0600 (-2.34%)TSLA Tesla, Inc. 319.04 -2.16 (-0.67%)F Ford Motor Company 10.87 -0.21 (-1.90%)Earnings eventsTrending tickersMETA Meta Platforms, Inc. 695.21 -4.79 (-0.68%)MSFT Microsoft Corporation 513.24 +0.67 (+0.13%)AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. 230.19 -0.82 (-0.35%)HOOD Robinhood Markets, Inc. 106.10 +2.78 (+2.69%)QCOM QUALCOMM Incorporated 159.06 -3.02 (-1.86%)Top economic eventsPowered by Money.com - Yahoo may earn commission from the links above.