Housing Giants - May 9, 2008 - (Page 20)

DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS their homes. The home market in many Sunbelt states will fare much better as retirees move in and a growing younger population helps fuel the market. In some cases, government policies and creative methods of development may be able to mitigate the worst impacts of retired baby boomers taking flight from the Northeast and Midwest to warmer climes. “You can’t really stop aging, but you can reduce its impact in different ways,” Myers says. One way is for developers to work with local planners to retain seniors. This strategy could include building community centers for senior citizens and making shopping malls more attractive to older folks. Some developers have already taken to constructing condos and apartment complexes adjoining shopping malls that could target the elderly. This new urbanism approach for suburbia would make it WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM makes clear that the next couple of decades will be dramatically different from the previous few for the home building industry. The good news is that home builders have an opportunity to appeal to them as they buy homes in the future. The greatest source of change will be the aging of the baby boomers and a resulting glut of homes for sale. This could lead to depressed home prices and a drop in demand for new homes, though this impact will vary by region in timing and severity. HOLDING ON TO YOUR POPULATION “In some parts of the U.S., it has already started to hit,” says Dowell Myers, professor with the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California. “Other parts will be immune until after 2030.” In general, the Northeast and Midwest will bear the brunt of the giant baby boomer home sell-off, with some seniors potentially having great difficulty selling 20 HOUSING GIANTS.5.9.08 http://www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/ http://www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/ http://www.usc.edu/schools/sppd/ http://WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM

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Housing Giants - May 9, 2008 Contents Viewpoint News and Moves Tech M & A The New Housing Demographics

Housing Giants - May 9, 2008

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