Homebuyers are increasingly willing to pay a premium for a certain perk—and it’s not a swimming pool, three-car garage, or two kitchens.
A survey from the National Association of Realtors® showed that Americans are prioritizing walkability in a way they haven’t since the pre-Henry Ford era.
79% of respondents rated walkability as “very” or “somewhat” important, and 78% said they’d pay more for the privilege, according to the 2023 survey.
And it’s the younger generations who are leading the demand.
A whopping 90% of Gen Z and millennial respondents said they’d pay more for a home in a walkable community; with a third saying they’d “pay a lot more.”
And the trend of desiring walkability has shown no sign of slowing down since that survey was taken.
“Walkability has become one of the most valuable amenities in today’s housing market,” Howard “Hoby” Hanna, CEO of national real estate company Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, tells Realtor.com®.
“We’re seeing buyers pay 10% to 20% more for homes that offer a true ‘step-out-and-go’ lifestyle. It appeals to every generation, from young families who want stroller-friendly streets to seniors who prioritize mobility, health, and longevity.”
And according to urban planner Mike Hathorne, author of “The Great Housing Reversal and the New American Dream,” “these aren’t passing preferences—they are signs of a generational pivot,” as he wrote on LinkedIn. “The old model of growth—more square feet, farther out—no longer defines prosperity. The new measure of value is connection: how close we are to the things that make life work.”
That value is not just figurative. The share of homes for sale that highlight walkability more than doubled from 0.6% of listings in October 2024 to 1.3% in October 2025, reflecting a growing trend of sellers emphasizing walkable features to attract buyers, according to Realtor.com data.
“Walkability carries both lifestyle and financial appeal,” says Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.
“Living in a walkable area can reduce or even eliminate the need for a car, lowering gas and transportation costs. These neighborhoods also tend to offer a concentration of restaurants, shops, and other amenities, adding to their convenience and desirability.”
Walkability by the generations
While baby boomers and the Silent/Greatest generations are less willing to pay more for walkability than younger generations, they still were overwhelmingly for it, with 69% and 56%, respectively, saying that they would pay a premium to be able to ditch the car.
Boomers, millennials, and Gen Z are “screaming for walkability,” Hathorne tells Realtor.com. “Boomers want smaller homes, less maintenance, and to have access to daily needs. They don’t want their homes to turn into prisons. They want to remain active, but if they can’t drive anymore, they are in essence handicapped in their ability to be mobile unless they have walkability.”
For younger homebuyers, it’s less about decreasing mobility, more about increasing community.
Ken Perlman, a managing principal with housing research firm John Burns Research and Consulting, says that first-time buyers ages 35 to 49 are more community-oriented than previous generations, whose post-World War II dream home tended to be a detached single family house with plenty of privacy.
Perlman says part of what is pushing the desire for walkability is the renewed interest in wellness and the outdoors, which intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic. And there is the increasing attention to environmental causes and sustainability. Avoiding an emissions-gushing car fits into that vision, too.
Then there is what he calls “experiential living”—the ability to walk down the street, greet your neighbors, and easily meet up with friends in a “third space” such as a park, library, or coffee shop.
The hottest trend in urban design is the “15-minute city”—where theoretically it takes only 15 minutes to walk to anything you need. While urban cores like New York City, Atlanta, and New Orleans have always offered this, people are clamoring for a “surban” environment—one that combines the convenience of the city with the low crime rates, quiet, and superior schools of suburbia.
And they are willing to pay for it.
“Walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods are not just nicer—they are more valuable,” says Hathorne. “Many analyses show that households living in walkable communities spend significantly less on transportation, have higher property values, and yield higher returns per acre than sprawling suburbs.”
Developers have caught the walking bug
Developers are catching on and building communities specifically around the car-free life.
“We’re seeing a real shift toward people wanting to live where they can walk to everything—food, fitness, transit, convenience, and community,” Steven Krieger, president of B2K Development, the team behind a new luxury condominium community on the South Shore of Long Island called The Boardwalk, tells Realtor.com.
“The response has been tremendous,” he says of the 192-condo community, which is 60% sold. “Buyers want the ability to live in a place where their daily routine—morning coffee, a workout, dinner with friends—can happen without ever getting in a car.”
Masterplanned communities built with walkability top of mind include The Wheeler District in Oklahoma City; Merion at Midtown Park in Dallas; Leland South Congress in Austin, TX; Playa Vista in Los Angeles; and Eastrail Flats in Seattle.
“As demand grows for neighborhoods where daily needs are within easy reach, Eastrail Flats illustrates how thoughtful infill design can bring fresh energy and accessibility to an area that once lacked both,” Sean Whitacre, an architect behind the recently opened 205-apartment community in Woodinville, WA, outside of Seattle, tells Realtor.com.
This easy access to amenities and necessities “allows for a higher quality of life,” he says.
Maybe you’d still like to get rid of the car but walking isn’t your thing? Some places are looking to the golf cart.
Peachtree City, GA, 30 miles outside of Atlanta, is the largest, most golf cart-friendly municipality in the country. By last count, 11,000 registered golf carts owned by the city’s 38,244 residents meander over 100 miles of paved paths.
Then there’s Culdesac Tempe, the country’s first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in Tempe, AZ.
Designed by car-free urban planner Culdesac, the community has about 1,000 residents in 760 apartments on 17 acres of communal spaces, retail, and all you need to get around without a car, including on-site Bird scooters, multiple cheap car sharing plans, e-bikes, and over 1,000 bike parking spots.
While it might seem a no-brainer for developers to pivot away from suburban sprawl to what consumers want, Hathorne says it isn’t that simple.
He points out that developers are often hampered by zoning restrictions and finances. It’s easier and more economical to throw up a bunch of tract houses than plan out an entire neighborhood that contains everything a resident would want.
But he believes that walkable communities are the future.
“The health of the market based on consumer preferences requires it,” he says. “To right balance what is going on in the residential market as a whole, it needs to turn that way.”
Existing neighborhoods
Sometimes it isn’t a masterplanned community that fits the bill, but an existing neighborhood that has been hiding in plain sight as preferences change.
Miami agent Lourdes Alatriste of Douglas Elliman tells Realtor.com that she is seeing luxury homebuyers beginning to eschew the glittering shoreline of downtown Miami for the dense, walkable marina neighborhood Coconut Grove, despite its lack of a beach.
“Walkability is the biggest selling tool right now,” she says. “In Coconut Grove, there are houses I couldn’t sell a few years ago for $10 million, that now are selling for $30 million. It’s because of the walkability.”
Nancy Batchelor, founder of The Nancy Batchelor Team at Compass, says that nearby Sunset Harbour in Miami is also benefiting from this new zeal for walkability.
“Values for condos and townhomes in the neighborhood, and especially the single family homes on the Sunset Islands, have benefited tremendously from that access and walkability,” she tells Realtor.com.
“So many of my clients tell me they want the feeling of a true neighborhood, somewhere they can grab coffee, run errands, play padel, and meet friends without getting in the car.”
Carlos Rosso, founder and CEO of Rosso Development, the developer behind the new $2 billion 5-acre mixed-use district of Midtown Park by Prosper, tells Realtor.com that “Miami is a world-class city, but it’s never been known for walkability.”
The community was designed with 15-foot wide sidewalks, two parks, pedestrian “paseos” that link the development to the Design District and Wynwood, and retail all at street level.
“Buyers are seeing value in access, walkability, and green space more and more, and it’s generating strong demand from people who want a walkable lifestyle in Miami but have never been able to find it,” Rosso says.
Jonathan Spears, founder of Spears Group and Compass 30A, who represents luxe properties in Alys Beach, FL, a 158-acre planned community along Scenic Highway 30A, tells Realtor.com he is seeing buyers willing to pay 20% to 30% higher than for comparable nonwalkable areas along 30A.
“Walkability has become one of the biggest premium drivers we’re seeing,” he says. “Buyers consistently tell us they love being able to park the car and live their entire lifestyle on foot.”
According to the NAR survey, those living in walkable communities also reported being happier than those who didn’t—perhaps a result of less gas fumes and gridlock, more fresh air and exercise, and the ability to wave and say “howdy” to your neighbor.