Friday, March 21, 2008

Boomers and housing

Judy Schriener is writing a book about the way Boomers are impacting housing design trends. I hope she publishes it soon since there are a lot of people wanting to know the answers.

The headline points made in the article are:

  • Many Boomers don’t want to retire. Instead, they plan to take new jobs, start businesses, or involve themselves in volunteer work.
  • Many want to stay in town, close to transportation. It is estimated that 60% of Boomers who move stay within their county of residence.
  • There’s a clear aging-in-place movement, in which over-50s remodel their homes instead of moving.
  • A growing number of university-affiliated retirement communities promise a rich cultural and intellectual environment.
  • There is a rise in special-interest communities devoted to pursuits such as music, theater, fishing, or fitness.

I totally agree with Ms Schreiner’s conclusions: “don’t target people by their age but by their lifestyle”. As she says people in their 60s with kids are different from those with grandchildren. And single mothers of similar age are different from empty-nesters. It’s not a homogenous group. Absolutely. Dick Stroud

1 comment:

Chuck Nyren said...

I hope she cites you, Brent Green, and yours truly in this groundbreaking opus. Every 'headline' of hers was covered in my book - written four years ago.