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Mortgage No More: Baby Boomers Who Rent Are On the Rise
GoverningAs baby boomers age, more and more of them are choosing to rent instead of own their homes. It's led to a rise in the average age of renters and in renters overall.
From 2007 to 2017, there was a 43 percent increase in renters over the age of 60, according to a new report from Rent Cafe, a nationwide apartment listing service. As a result, the median age of renters ticked up from 36.7 years old to 38.1. Meanwhile, renting is near a 50-year high, with 36.6 percent of Americans doing it, according to the Pew Research Center.
The causes behind the rise in older renters are both demographic and economic, explains Mark Trekson, research associate for the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute.
Many senior renters, he says, are baby boomers who never purchased a home. Others are people who lost their homes in the Great Recession and have not bought again. The economic downturn also impacted seniors' retirement decisions. “There was a downward shift in mobility after the Great Recession,” Trekson says. As older workers aged out of the workforce, they were more likely to stay in their rental homes because the economic downturn ate away at their savings and nest eggs.
From 2007 to 2017, there was a 43 percent increase in renters over the age of 60, according to a new report from Rent Cafe, a nationwide apartment listing service. As a result, the median age of renters ticked up from 36.7 years old to 38.1. Meanwhile, renting is near a 50-year high, with 36.6 percent of Americans doing it, according to the Pew Research Center.
The causes behind the rise in older renters are both demographic and economic, explains Mark Trekson, research associate for the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute.
Many senior renters, he says, are baby boomers who never purchased a home. Others are people who lost their homes in the Great Recession and have not bought again. The economic downturn also impacted seniors' retirement decisions. “There was a downward shift in mobility after the Great Recession,” Trekson says. As older workers aged out of the workforce, they were more likely to stay in their rental homes because the economic downturn ate away at their savings and nest eggs.
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I'm selling my house this year and I was thinking of renting.. I'll be moving from a high cost,high rent area to a lower rent area so that will work to my advantage. I'll be down sizing also so that hopefully will reduce rental costs also. Don't need a 3/2 any more. What I would really like to get is a garage with a bathroom, kitchen and high speed internet... Oh yeah, a bed too...
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