Homeowners are staying in their homes for a median of five years longer than they did a decade ago, according to a recent analysis by the real estate site Redfin. The report suggests that older residents are often content to remain in their homes, making fewer affordable homes available for new buyers.

Looking at 55 major metropolitan areas across the United States, Redfin determined that the typical homeowner has been at the same address for 13 years. This tenure is up from a median stay of eight years in 2010.

The report suggests that homeowners may be unwilling to walk away from equity gains, especially as the median home price has more than doubled in the past 10 years. However, it also says homeowners who might otherwise be willing to sell their home and cash in on this accrued wealth are often wary to do so because they worry about being able to simultaneously buy another home in their price range.

"I have a client right now in West Valley who wants to move into the city in a more walkable, higher priced neighborhood," said Daniel Lopez, a Redfin agent in Salt Lake City. "They would need to sell to buy, but are worried about making a competitive offer when they still need to sell their current home. I rarely see offers with home sale contingencies accepted in Salt Lake City because the market is competitive."

Salt Lake City had the longest homeownership tenure of the metro areas in the report, with the typical homeowner spending 23.4 years in their residence – up from 14.7 years in 2010. The number of homes for sale in this market dropped by 59 percent in this period, while the median home price climbed 74.4 percent to $340,000.

Texas accounted for the next five metros where residents spent the most time in one place. The typical homeowner in Houston had spent 23.2 years in their residence, while the median homeowner in Fort Worth had owned their home for 22.6 years.

"In Dallas, there are many neighborhoods that were built in the 1950s and 1960s where most of today's residents are still the original homeowners," said Christopher Dillard, a Redfin agent in Dallas. "Because prices have been going up, and folks are gaining more and more equity, it's hard to justify selling when there aren't many if any affordable options."

Redfin says seniors are often willing to stay in their homes longer, sometimes aided by local policies. For example, Texas allows homeowners over the age of 65 to defer property taxes until they sell their home, making it more affordable to continue living in the residence.

Older residents also tend to occupy homes that would be more affordable to first-time buyers trying to enter the housing market. According to Freddie Mac, the extended homeownership tenure of residents between the ages of 67 and 85 has kept an estimated 1.6 million homes off the market. Redfin determined that properties in San Francisco whose owners hadn't changed addresses for more than 20 years had a median value about $122,000 lower than properties that had changed hands within the past five years.