More Americans are inheriting houses than at any point on record, and most of those homes are eventually sold. The numbers below show how common inherited-home sales have become, what heirs actually do with the property, how long probate tends to take before a sale can close, and why so many inherited houses end up sold as-is. Every figure is attributed to a named source.
Last updated June 2026. Sources: Cotality (reported by Newsweek), Cerulli Associates (via HousingWire), the Trust & Will Real Estate Inheritance Report, and the National Center for State Courts.
Inherited-home sales are at a record high
About 340,000 U.S. properties changed hands through inheritance in 2025. That is 7.4% of all property transfers, an all-time high, and up sharply from 4.2% in 2019. In other words, roughly one in every thirteen homes that transferred last year did so because someone died, not because it sold on the open market.
The rate varies a lot by state. In California, inherited homes made up nearly 18% of transfers (about 60,000 properties), more than double the national rate, driven partly by tax rules that reward keeping a property in the family.
This is the leading edge of a much larger shift. The baby boomer and silent generations hold close to $25 trillion in real estate, and an estimated $4.6 trillion of residential property is expected to pass to younger generations over the next two decades as part of the broader wealth transfer. Among people who expect an inheritance, 62% say they expect to receive real estate.
What heirs actually do with an inherited home
When the Trust & Will Real Estate Inheritance Report surveyed people who had inherited property, selling was the most common outcome by a wide margin. Here is how past heirs split:
| What they did with the home | Share of past heirs |
|---|---|
| Sold within 12 months | 26% |
| Sold after 12 months | 30% |
| Kept it as a primary residence | 33% |
| Kept it as a rental | 17% |
Figures are self-reported survey responses and reflect rounding; about 56% of past heirs sold at some point.
The more revealing finding is the gap between what people plan and what they do. Only 35% of future heirs say they intend to sell, but 56% of past heirs actually did. And while 36% plan to keep the home as a rental, just 17% end up doing it. Rental plans tend not to survive contact with the real costs: a mortgage that doesn’t pause, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and upkeep on a house nobody is living in.
How long probate takes before you can sell
In most cases an inherited home can’t be sold until the estate clears probate, the court process that confirms who has authority to sign. That step is the main reason inherited-home sales move slower than people expect. National figures:
- Simple, uncontested estates: often 3 to 6 months.
- Typical estates: 6 to 12 months.
- Complex or contested estates: 12 to 24 months, sometimes longer.
- When the estate owns real property, add roughly 4 to 8 months to whatever the baseline would have been.
Timelines also vary widely by state. A rough grouping:
| Speed | Typical range | Example states |
|---|---|---|
| Faster | ~6–12 months | Florida, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, Kansas, Alaska |
| Moderate | ~9–18 months | Arizona, Maine |
| Slower | ~12–24 months | California, Georgia, Louisiana |
Many states also offer a simplified or small-estate process that runs faster when the estate is modest. The takeaway: probate sets the floor on your timeline, but a sale can usually be lined up to close as soon as the court grants authority.
Why so many inherited homes sell as-is
Inherited houses skew older and often haven’t had work done in years. Part of what’s driving the rise in inheritances is longer ownership: parents staying in homes for decades, then passing them down. That tends to mean deferred maintenance, dated systems, and a list of repairs a traditional buyer’s inspector will flag. (Our home repair cost statistics page covers what those fixes run.)
Three pressures push heirs toward a clean sale rather than a renovate-and-list project:
- The house costs money every month it sits. Mortgage, taxes, insurance, and utilities keep running through the entire probate process, often on a home no one lives in.
- Multiple heirs rarely agree on repairs. Splitting the cost and the decisions of a renovation across siblings is hard. A single cash figure to divide is simpler.
- Most heirs don’t want to become landlords or contractors. The data bears this out: far more people plan to rent than ever actually do.
Where selling for cash fits
If an inherited home is in good shape and the heirs have the time and money, fixing the high-return items and listing it traditionally usually nets the most. Selling as-is for cash makes sense when the math runs the other way: the house needs real work, it’s draining the estate while probate runs, the heirs live out of state, or no one wants the cleanout and repair project.
That’s the situation we handle. We buy inherited houses as-is, including homes full of belongings, and we can wait for the estate to receive Letters Testamentary or its equivalent before closing. We’re used to working with executors and multiple heirs, and we close on the estate’s timeline. The offer reflects the home’s current condition and the work we take on, and we’ll tell you honestly when listing would net you more.
- How to sell an inherited house you don’t want
- Cash sale vs. traditional listing: timeline & cost data
- Home repair cost statistics
- Home seller glossary (probate, executor, and more, explained)
- How our cash-offer process works
- Common questions about selling for cash
We buy inherited houses nationwide, in any condition, including Florida, Texas, California, and Virginia.
Sources
Inheritance share of property transfers (340,000 homes; 7.4% in 2025 vs. 4.2% in 2019; California figures): Cotality data, reported by Newsweek (2026). Great Wealth Transfer real-estate figures ($4.6 trillion; ~$25 trillion held; 62% expecting real estate): Cerulli Associates, via HousingWire. What heirs do with inherited homes (sell/keep/rent shares; plan-vs-reality gap): Trust & Will Real Estate Inheritance Report. Probate timelines: National Center for State Courts and state probate guides. Figures are national unless noted and vary by state, estate complexity, and home condition; we update this page as new reports publish.
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