Housing Giants - May 9, 2008 - (Page 21)

easier for seniors to live self-sufficiently by living within walking distance of grocery stores and other amenities. Another strategy for areas that are losing population is to attract new immigrants, a group that accounts for 40 percent of new housing demand this decade and will account for an even higher percentage next decade. This strategy is somewhat limited, however, as there are only so many immigrants to go around, Myers points out. “The only thing that works for everybody is to invest in young people,” Myers says. Ensuring that all young people can maximize their home-buying potential by giving them the means to achieve a high level of education is the best hope for mitigating the impact of the baby boomer sell-off, he says. Baby boomers will continue to be a prime market for home builders, particularly in retirement areas. Florida and Arizona, for instance, will be strong boomer markets, while Ohio and upstate New York, for instance, will likely lag, Myers says. HOUSING INDUSTRY TO SCALE BACK Nationally, a decline in overall demand for new housing construction appears to be WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM WHERE WE ARE NOW Here’s a glimpse of how women and minorities are faring in today’s housing market: Bloomberg reports on mortgage rate disparities among minorities. Watch Video Two women on San Diego’s KGTV-TV shed light on how the subprime crunch has affected them. Watch Video inevitable, and this will cause cutbacks and consolidation in the home building industry. Demographic trends are too strong to believe otherwise. Roughly 12 percent to 15 percent of home sales in recent years have been new construction, but that statistic may not hold up, Myers says. With so many retirees selling their homes, a decline in the percentage of new construction of the total housing market is likely in some 5.9.08.HOUSING GIANTS 21 http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/392561/minorities_and_mortgages_of_blacks_get_high_priced_loans_vs_of_whites?wpid=0 http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/508619/local_women_detail_experiences_with_housing_crunch?wpid=0 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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