Investors are starving for long-term bonds, but companies won’t sell them

There’s a classic economic tension playing out in the US investment-grade bond market right now, and it boils down to this: buyers are lining up for something sellers don’t want to offer. Long-dated corporate bonds, those with maturities stretching beyond 30 years, have become the hottest ticket in fixed income. But issuance of these instruments has collapsed. As of mid-September 2026, long-dated bond sales made up just 5% of all corporate issuance during the first half of the month. That’s the lowest proportion since at least 2020. A $14.7 billion appetite meets a closed kitchen The demand side of this equation is almost comically lopsided. When Aon Inc. recently brought its 2056 notes to market, the deal attracted $2 billion in orders, oversubscribed by more than seven times. Eli Lilly previously drew $14.7 billion in orders for just $2 billion worth of 30- and 40-year bonds. Oversubscription ratios for long-dated deals are averaging around 5x, the highest since 2021. The buyers driving this frenzy are pension funds and insurance companies, institutions that hold long-term liabilities and need matching assets to keep their books balanced. These institutional investors are also ch...