Posted on 05/03/2024 5:10:58 AM PDT by Libloather
Baby boomers are refusing to downsize in their golden years, according to a Redfin study, which found that the generation born between 1946 and 1964 owns nearly three in 10 (28.2 percent) large homes in the nation—nearly twice as many as millennial households with kids (14 percent).
This is happening despite boomers' kids having long left the nest and their households having shrunk to one or two people. Instead of selling their large properties and moving to a smaller place, boomers are turning the extra bedrooms into hobby rooms and guest rooms for visiting family members.
Read more: What Is a Home Equity Loan?
While it's understandable why boomers are holding on to their mortgage-free large homes, which are likely cheaper than what a new, smaller property might cost them now, their choice to stay put is having a profound impact on the U.S. housing market, contributing to keeping inventory tight. Some 54 percent of boomers own their homes and no longer need to pay a mortgage, according to Redfin.
The historic supply shortage in the country, which is mainly because the U.S. hasn't built enough homes since the 2007-2008 crisis, has kept prices up, even when demand dipped between late summer 2022 and spring 2023, triggering a correction at the national level.
"The number of homes for sale is near historic lows and that is in part due to baby boomers holding on to their homes and aging in place," Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's chief economist, told Newsweek.
"The larger problem is that there isn't enough new construction being built to meet demand from Gen Zers and millennials or from baby boomers who would want to downsize in retirement."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
That’s what my husband and I were talking about about.
It could have been titled, “Boomers prefer to age in place”.
The mere suggestion of such a premise deserves a right cross.
I'd sooner prefer they have an accidental fire than let my parents be forced from my childhood home by a leftist dictate to compensate for their economic policy failures.
How dare us try to keep what we worked our entire lives for!!
No on federal capital gains.
That is our strategy. If taxes were not so usurious, we’d consider selling.
If crappy Joe stays in place I foresee some bill to force seniors out of their homes. Not sure how they will do it, but I never put any evil as too evil for this bunch.
We keep seeing these articles about this and that must mean something.
We are in a 4 bedroom, finished basement, screened and glass enclosed patio room and it is way too much room for us.
I'd sell it and move in a minute but Mrs. Alaska and I voted and {like the demonRATs} she wins, we're staying.
If my vote doesn't count, I know she won't listen to this dweeb and who says she's wrong.
We've been in this wonderful neighborhood for over 45 years, very safe and quiet and it is HOME.
If we needed money, we could make hundreds of thousands by selling, but her next question is always, "Where to"?
There is no downsizing in this neighborhood, so where do we move that makes sense to her?
When one of us dies, the survivor will move, because either way, there will be no reason left to stay and then the author will cheer.
“Rents have spiraled with greedy landlords.”
Try being a landlord. First comes the Mortgage, taxes, insurance, and maintenance then finally a profit.
“looks to me like someone is laying the groundwork for some government agency to dictate who can own what house.”
Ya think...? ;-)
“ refusing to downsize”
Pretty loaded language
Another Brit from the global banker crowd (”had previously worked at the European Central Bank”) passing judgment on the US from across the pond:
“Giulia Carbonaro
US News Reporter
Twitter
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carbonarogiulia/
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. and European politics, global affairs and housing. She has covered the ups and downs of the U.S. housing market extensively, as well as given in-depth insights into the unfolding war in Ukraine. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate of Nottingham Trent University. Languages: English, Italian, French.”
you mean those “greedy landlords” who can’t get the renters to pay the full rent on time IF at all? Those greedy landlords who can’t make their OWN payments because of renter who don’t pay THEIR payments? are those the “greedy landlords” you are writing about? we had a rental and then we had squatters that refused to pay the rent, cost us literally THOUSANDS...and we barely sold it for cost. are WE the “greedy landlords” you write about?
Salgak wrote: “It couldn’t **possibly** be becuase homes hold value better than finanical investments, especially in the case of Joetato’s plan to tax unrealized capital gains. . .”
He could just as easily tax the increase in value of these homes. In fact, IIRC, during Obama admin there was a movement to tax the estimated rental income a home owner might receive if the house was rented.
“Hopefully, FJB and his minions won’t eff up my retirement plans.”
FJB (and all of Congress) have already done that by creating ten trillion dollars out of thin air during COVID (for no good reason) sending inflation sky-high. Most things cost 30% to 40% more than four years ago.
I spent my earning years with a retirement financial model assuming 2% to 3% inflation until I croak. That required the GD government to not screw everything up. So much for that naive financial planning.
We have traditionally regarded aging in place as a good thing. Old timers are part of the fabric of any balanced community. They (we) provide a sense of continuity and provide a neighborhood’s “institutional memory.” They think and build for the long term. The preference for rootless people endlessly on the move probably serves our would-be lords and masters, who regard the middle class as worker drones, more akin to serfs than to fellow citizens, but those of us who have been in our homes for decades don’t consider ourselves riffraff to be shoved aside to accommodate the incoming swarms of entitled cubicle rats who don’t want to pay their dues, pitch in, and build good neighborhoods over time.
I live in DC, which has had gentrification on steroids ever since we finally got rid of Marion Barry. Our current braindead mayor and city council are backsliders, doped up to their eyeballs on wokeium and oblivious to the damage they are causing, but the straighthinkers among the younger set are doing what we now-aging boomers did back in the day. They are colonizing and reclaiming the still affordable neighborhoods, especially those that are relatively close in. In DC, that means some newly gentrifying neighborhoods north of downtown, in far Northeast, the Anacostia River corridor, and close-in PG County that my generation had regarded as no-go areas. Clearing out the old folks is not the solution. Reclaiming neighborhoods from Section 8 and public housing project types is the solution.
“Anyone need some figurines?
LOL! Mom passed away two weeks ago, and we were inventorying the stuff in the house, including many figurines and things we couldn’t even identify. (Farmhouse was built in 1830, and family has accumulated everything over the years.) Curio cabinets full of heaven-knows-what. Salt and pepper shakers. Miscellaneous dishes.
So we’re hoping that the contingent of cousins will jump in and volunteer to take ... figurines.
Classic Dr Zhivago
Meeting Comrade Kaprugina, Chairman of the Resident’s Committee
https://youtu.be/mq__Z-Z_Ofs?si=VXM8uU09fXWoON-M
“There was room for 13 families in this house”
Entitled young people aren’t entitled to a 4 BR/3 Bath 3000 square foot starter home like they spent their pre-college starter years in. Let them start with a 3/1.5 1200 or 1500 square foot house like the boomers did.
Oh, wait - those smaller houses probably have 8 or 10 illegals living there with a couple of legals.
Not building like we used to? Come visit the Coeur d’Alene area. I’ve never seen so much construction. Gorgeous multi-generation arms are being sold off at a furious rate and turned into tract homes. Towns are running into each other.
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