Sisters Buying Homes Together: The Rise of Sibling Co-Ownership in America
According to a Bank of America survey conducted in 2025, 22% of Gen Z homeowners purchased properties alongside their siblings, a significant increase from 12% in 2024 and just 4% in 2023. This shift is largely attributed to escalating housing prices and a drop in marriage rates, which reached a historic low in 2019, with 25% of individuals aged 40 never having married by 2021. Historian Steven Mintz highlights that sibling living arrangements were prevalent in early American society. Contemporary examples include Keke Palmer residing with her sisters and Megan and Anne McGovern in South Boston. Gia Arvin points out that 87% of U.S. adults find home buying more challenging than it was for their parents, as reported by Pew in July.
Key facts
- A 2025 Bank of America survey found that 22% of Gen Z homeowners bought their home with siblings, up from 12% in 2024 and 4% in 2023.
- The U.S. marriage rate hit an all-time low in 2019, and as of 2021, a quarter of all 40-year-olds have never wed.
- Keke Palmer shares her home with her three-year-old son, her sisters, and her sisters' children.
- Megan and Anne McGovern, sisters from Boston, bought an apartment in South Boston and got matching peony-and-heart tattoos two nights before Megan moved out in May.
- Gia Arvin, a Florida real-estate agent, noted an increase in buyers with unconventional arrangements after the pandemic, citing affordability.
- A July Pew report found that 87% of U.S. adults say it is more difficult for them to buy a home than it was for their parents.
- Mindy and Kayla, sisters in New England, bought a four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home with Kayla's husband, splitting expenses 60/40.
- Madeleine and Erica Zetterquist, sisters from California, bought a house in 2023 and live with Erica's fiancé, who recently got engaged to Erica.
Entities
Artists
- Keke Palmer
- Steven Mintz
- Jay Caspian Kang
- Amy Hill Hearth
- Sarah L. Delany
- A. Elizabeth Delany
- Megan McGovern
- Anne McGovern
- Gia Arvin
- Mindy
- Kayla
- Leonore Davidoff
- Madeleine Zetterquist
- Erica Zetterquist
Institutions
- Architectural Digest
- Bank of America
- University of Texas at Austin
- New York Times
- Pew Research Center
Locations
- Toronto
- Canada
- South Boston
- Boston
- Florida
- New England
- California
- Maine
- United States