|
|
|
Articles
"Baby-Boomer Wave Will
Alter Adult-Living Housing Market", Engineering News Record, © Judy Schrienter,
2/6/06
The Boomers are coming! The Boomers
are coming! Baby boomers, the 75-million strong group born in the U.S. between
1946 and 1964, start turning 60 this year at a rate of about 8,000 a day. Half
are already over 50. It is the largest generation in U.S. history and the
residential construction market is in for a shock.
As boomers age, they will surely change housing as
we know it, not only for the aging but probably also for everyone, experts say.
Designers and builders will have to rethink the way they build for this
more-active, independent, individualistic generation. The trick is, although
they have to begin planning now for that wave of aging boomers, no one knows for
sure what boomers and their successors will want.
“Baby boomers are individualistic and independent,
but in that, they act like a group, so it’s a mix that’s never been addressed
before,” says Priscilla Wallace, president of Chicago-based New Marketing
Network and its New York City subsidiary, Boomertising.
The idea of “retiring” and moving to a sedate
lifestyle just doesn’t appeal to most boomers. For many, hitting 60 just means
getting a new start on life. For years, builders of “active-adult communities,”
for which buyers usually must be age 55 or over to qualify, have emphasized
activities and camaraderie as the big lures. “It’s the lifestyle that we’re
selling,” says Dawn Korbelak, vice president, product development processes for
K. Hovnanian Homes, Red Bank, N.J. Hovnanian has more than 30 Four
Seasons-branded active-adult communities in seven states.
Future seniors probably will be attracted to
lifestyles as much as to location and home features, but that is unchartered
territory. “What was done yesterday was based on yesterday’s research,” says
Evelyn Howard, president of Howard & Associates research firm, Bethesda, Md. In
general, “they like more informal, spontaneous activities, fewer structured
activities,” she says. But “it’s a real danger in this business to put all the
old guys in one bucket,” warns Dave Schreiner, vice president, active-adult
business development for Pulte Homes Inc., Scottsdale, Ariz.
Boomers have a high resistance to the “seniors”
label and also, up to now, to living in seniors communities. But new research
unveiled at the National Association of Home Builders’ International Builders’
Show last month in Orlando, Fla., indicates that is changing. Some 80% of
respondents age 45 to 54 are aware of age-qualified communities (now considered
a more attractive term than age-restricted) in a survey of 2,309 45+ adults
conducted by ProMatura Group LLC, Oxford, Miss. That’s up from 62% in 1998,
according to Margaret Wylde, president of ProMatura. And more than 13% of
respondents in that age group say they are likely or very likely to move to
age-restricted housing. “Every time we survey, we see a significant jump in
those who are willing to move to an age-qualified community,” says Wylde.
Seven of the top 10 homebuilders in the U.S.
currently are building seniors housing, according to NAHB. Del Webb’s 41
communities make up one third of Pulte Homes’ business and could grow to be 40%
of the business, says Schreiner. “It’s a big deal for us,” he says.
More homebuilders will be getting into the 55+
market as baby boomers flood the market, partly because of overwhelming demand,
experts say. Many builders can get zoning permits for age-restricted housing
only because municipalities fear overcrowding. “The primary motivation is fear
of unrestricted development that brings in younger families with school-age
children, so the easy answer is ‘Let’s restrict development,’ ” says Sam
Gershwin, president of Westminster Communities, part of Kushner Communities,
Florham Park, N.J.
With the changing preferences of the new older
person, homes are expected to have more upgrades, which are most profitable to
homebuilders. “This is their last house and by George, they’re going to get
everything they want in that house,” says Brian Nagle, vice president of
marketing, sales and design for Pringle Development, Eustis, Fla. And clubhouses
and community facilities also will change. Just how is still unknown.
“It’s an evolving science,” says Gershwin. “As we
analyze, we take that informaton and apply it to the next community we’re
designing.”
|
