Older Americans a Pillar of Housing Market With High Ownership Rate

[Purveyor]

By Alexis Leondis Dec 8, 2014 1:32 PM ET

Bill Braswell is staying put in his Virginia home even though he could sell it for 10 times what he paid in 1980 and some of his retired friends are moving to warmer climates.

“I’m on boards and commissions and I enjoy that brain activity, so no, I don’t want to move to South Carolina or Florida,” said Braswell, 69, a retired federal civil servant, who lives alone in a four-bedroom Tudor home in Arlington. “I’m thinking of putting an elevator in so I can stay.”

Older homeowners have emerged as the pillar of the housing market following the collapse in 2008. The homeownership rate for Americans age 65 and over has remained at 80 percent while dropping for every other age group. Seniors typically have less mortgage debt than younger homeowners, more wealth than they had four years ago, and longer lifespans than a generation ago. So they’re staying in the housing market rather than downsizing into rentals or moving to independent senior centers.

“This group has been a ballast for the market,” said Chris Herbert, acting managing director at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. “If not for them, we would have seen a much lower homeownership rate overall, more homes on the market and more weakness.”

The homeownership rate -- the number of owner-occupied homes divided by the number of households -- was 80 percent in the third quarter for those 65 and over, little changed from the same period in 2008, according to Census Bureau data. Those under 35 have seen the biggest decline in homeownership, with a 12 percent drop to 36 percent, the data show. In 1982, the homeownership rate of every age group was higher than it was in 2013 -- except for those 65 and over.

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-08/older-americans-gird-housing-with-high-ownership-rate.html

[yeoman6987]

1. It makes sense when you figure 30 year mortgages

Get paid off around retirement time. Plus they didn't take the crazy variable rate and did theirs on a fixed rate. Thank goodness I didn't fall for the variable rate nonsense. When I heard trouble with variable rates. I immediately called all of my immediate family to see if they took variable. They said no way! Fixed rate all the way. I was relieved. My brother and sister in law are closest to paying off with 14 years left. I have 17 years left and my sister and brother in law have around 19 left.

[enough]

2. Funny concept. Staying in the house you've lived in for decades

equates to "staying in the housing market."

I'm not arguing with the premise of the article, just seems like an odd way to frame it.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I bought my duplex in 1990 when we had a crash here

basically for a song. I think it's worth maybe 2-1/2 times what I paid for it, but I'm not going anywhere. My daughter lives in the apartment now, but I've always rented it to friends or family for about $200 to $300 below market. It works out great for everyone. They pay most of my mortgage, but still get a great deal on the rent.

I was forced to buy when my former landlady got foreclosed on and I had to move, and although it seemed like a pretty awful thing being kicked out of my four-year home at the time, it ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to me. I'll die here.

[JaneyVee]

4. Im 33 and content with apartment living.

I pay rent and worry about not much else besides bills. Repairs get done by maintenance and even my sidewalk gets shoveled. Have no desire to own a home as of now. Maybe when I retire one day.

[woo me with science]

5. Oh, they've been looted out of their homes, too.

It's just concealed.

The problem is that "help" for seniors struggling in the deliberately vicious economy of our corporate oligarchy has been purposely orchestrated to consist...

*not* of ensuring that Social Security benefits and pensions are secure and high enough to meet basic needs of survival and allow them to remain in their homes without incurring huge debt...

...but of offering expanded opportunities to liquidate concrete assets they own (Cash for Gold! Title loans!) and "Reverse Mortgages" that ensure the property they worked for decades and decades to purchase as their own nevertheless belongs to the banks and corporations upon their death.

[malokvale77]

6. "Oh, they've been looted out of their homes, too."

Don't I know. I bought my home as a newlywed at the age of 17. After 18 years of marriage, I gave up all other joint property to keep it. I half starved to make the mortgage payments until I paid it off.

Now I half starve to pay the ever increasing taxes. I had to give up homeowners insurance years ago.

So much for the "Texas Miracle".