In theory yes. My anecdotes are not data, but I am seeing a bit of this now as I am seeing grandparents pass. The common theme is that the houses haven't so muc

In theory yes. My anecdotes are not data, but I am seeing a bit of this now as I am seeing grandparents pass. The common theme is that the houses haven't so much as a coat of paint in 20 years, they are outdated and not in great condition. This is assuming they stayed in the same neighborhoods where the kids were raised. There is a whole other level of undesirability when they bought a condo in Florida (or wherever). The kids generally have houses, they don't need/want an extra house. Usually there are multiple kids involved, so unless it is distinctly given to one child, it becomes problematic to do anything other than just turn it into a liquid asset and split the proceeds. This may vary by region, but at least in the Northeast, property taxes are very expensive. Keeping a house around as a spare is just too big of a burden. In the age of AirBnb, there may be some other options. In all cases I have seen thus far amongst family/friends, the house gets sold.