Older Homeowners Plan to Stay Put in Retirement: Survey

What You Need to Know

A survey says that 70% of Gen X and baby boomer homeowners plan to or already have retired in the home they currently own.
Their plans to keep their homes could significantly affect residential home inventory in the future.
Despite this, older homeowners are helping younger generations take steps toward owning a home.

Seven in 10 homeowners in the Gen X and baby boomer age groups say they plan to or have retired in the home they already own, according to new data from Bank of America, released Thursday.

Among those who plan to remain 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 do not want to move. In fact, 61% of Gen Xers and 69% of boomer homeowners reported that they have renovated or remodeled the home they currently live in, adapting them to fit their lifestyles.

These findings are significant because 70% of the 84.7 million owner-occupied homes in the U.S. belong to Gen Xers and boomers. Their plans for staying put in retirement can greatly affect residential home inventory.

BofA noted that 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.

It said a decade of insufficient homebuilding has also exacerbated low inventory levels, with housing supply growing by just 6.7% from 2010 to 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, 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,” Matt Vernon, head of retail lending at Bank of America, said in a statement. “The latest trends show that large populations of Gen X or baby boomer homeowners may not be selling anytime soon.”

Ipsos conducted the survey in mid-October among a nationally representative probability sample of 1,554 general population homeowners ages 45 to 76.