Gen X and Baby Boomers account for 70% of the 84.7 million owner-occupied homes in the United States, so their plans for homeownership in retirement can greatly impact residential home inventory.
New data from Bank of America found that 70% of homeowners aged 45 to 76 plan to or have retired in the home they already own. Among those planning to stay in their homes when they retire, 78% see no reason to move, while 22% say they have put so much work into their home that they don’t want to move. In fact, 61% of Gen X and 69% of Baby Boomer homeowners have renovated or remodeled the home they currently live in, adapting them to fit their lifestyles.
With more people staying in their homes and fewer selling them, active home listings fell from 1,468,901 units to 732,276 units between July 2016 and September 2022 – a 50% decrease since Realtor.com began tracking this data. A decade of insufficient homebuilding has also exacerbated low inventory levels – with the housing supply growing only 6.7% from 2010 to 2020, roughly half the rate of the previous decade.
“While home prices are holding steady in many parts of the country, demand continues to exceed supply, and there is still room for inventory to catch up before the housing market is in balance,” shares Matt Vernon, Head of Retail Lending at Bank of America.
