REPORT: BABY BOOMERS LIKE ACTIVE-ADULT COMMUNITIES
What do older homebuyers want?
As the giant baby boomer generation ages, that’s a question becoming more important to builders, real estate agents and other housing professionals.
The National Association of Home Builders has some answers. In a report released Aug. 14, the NAHB said that buyers ages 55 and up are more likely than other buyers to buy new homes, rather than existing homes.
Many of these buyers choose active-adult communities, restricted to buyers 55 and up. Developers of age-restricted communities often face less opposition at town hall because they bring in taxes but don’t add the expense of more schoolchildren.
But according to the NAHB, active-adult communities still have room to grow in the marketplace. There are only about 1 million such units in the nation, accounting for about a 1.4 percent share of owner-occupied housing units nationwide.
“So far, that segment of the marketplace hasn’t reached its potential,” the NAHB said.
As the baby boomers age, older buyers will become an increasingly significant market for the housing industry. The number of Americans who are 55 and older is expected to climb to 85.6 million, or 26.3 percent of the population, by 2014. That’s up from 52.2 million, or 21 percent of the population, in 1990.
The NAHB report, based in part on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey, found that 71 percent of age-restricted communities are in the suburbs, and only 14 percent in cities.
MORE FINDINGS
- Older buyers overwhelmingly want to be near doctors, hospitals and pharmacies.
- Much more than younger buyers, older buyers want to be near leisure activities.
- Many (45 percent) chose their age-restricted community because they like its appearance.
- A smaller percentage (25 percent) chose their community because it is near friends and family.
