Yet, as his business grew, and his work continued late into the evening, he realized he needed a larger place with a dedicated home office. In March, he listed his two-bedroom place for $2.7 million with Ryan Serhant, a broker with Nest Seekers International who appears on Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing New York.” It quickly went into contract for $2.65 million, and he put a down payment on a three-bedroom duplex with a terrace at 93 Worth, a luxury condo conversion under construction downtown. “It’s like a house,” he said. “I will hopefully never have to leave, and that feels great.”

Moving is a headache, it’s true. But maybe Mr. Moreno will succumb to hedonic adaptation or the midlife urge to downsize.

Buying a home is still considered an important step on the ladder to personal fulfillment. But Dr. Dunn isn’t convinced ownership is all it’s cracked up to be. “A very robust finding in psychology is people are highly motivated to justify their own choices,” she said. “It’s very hard to get people to admit they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in a way not optimal for their happiness.”