With the growing Baby Boomer population I would expect one-level or ranch homes to be big in the next 5-10 years. In recent years, the reasons to choose a one-story home have increased. The baby boomers are aging and our entire population is getting older. More and more, we prefer to live our lives on one level, rather than climbring up and down stairs at the end of each day.
So as people look to buy smaller homes many will look to buy ranches or settle on homes with Master on the Main but they will be settling with that choice. This is excerpted from the Chicago Tribune in Jan ’07.
This year, buyers who are 55 and older are expected to account for 370,000 housing starts, according to the NAHB 55-Plus Council, and they will place 24% of the orders for new custom homes. And because the average home buyer is getting older, builders are adding a choice of traditional ranch floor plans, ranch homes with an optional second floor, all-on-one floor duplexes and ranch-style townhouses, according to Steve Hovany, president of Strategy Planning Associates in Schaumburg, Ill.
If the condos downtown, with their elevators, were priced right according to Boomers income, could that be the next wave of condo owners? I recall that the average age of a certain condominium development downtown was about 60 years old. Maybe that will happen in the Pearl.
