Each Friday, Russ Anderson, the president and CEO of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty and the CEO of Pacific Sotheby's International Realty, writes about luxury, trends, business and more in the advertising pages of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal. Below is his letter of July 31, 2026.
FROM THE PRESIDENT'S P.O.V.
Is upsizing your home until it’s time to downsize a thing of the past?
Quite possibly. More and more buyers want homes they can live in for life — especially at the top end of the market — according to the 2026 Mid-Year Luxury Outlook agent survey, published in June by Sotheby’s International Realty.
On top of this, almost one in five U.S. homes purchased by 46-to-60-year-olds between July 2024 and June 2025 was a multigenerational residence, according to a study by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). A recent story in The Wall Street Journal dug deeper: Wealthy baby boomers are increasingly upsizing their homes in retirement, it reports, reversing the traditional expectation that older Americans downsize. The story says that many boomers are either buying bigger homes or financing additions to their existing ones, adding guesthouses and gourmet kitchens for entertaining, alongside such features as high-end grab bars and first-floor primary bedrooms for aging in place. An agent at our brokerage just closed on a home for clients who “had over-downsized,” she says. “So they built a larger home to be able to have out-of-town kids and grandchildren stay with them, and to host holidays.”
Even 27-to-35-year-olds are in on this trend, with multigenerational homes they can age into now making up almost 10 percent of their purchases, the NAR study shows. Buyers, it seems, “think about aging differently compared with their parents,” says the Wall Street Journal story. “They hope to live active lives into their 90s.”
If you’ve got longevity goals related to where you live, I happen to know about 400 real estate experts who can help you achieve them. Let’s finesse that future.
The new forever homes: What buyers are looking for (or adding), in an exclusive report, here.
Russ Anderson
President and CEO, Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty
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