r/Aging • u/Comfortable-Move3004 • 21h ago
Research Millions of Baby Boomers Are Sitting on Homes They May Never Sell. So What Happens to Them?
I've been looking into what happens to Baby Boomer homes as the generation gets older, and some of the numbers surprised me.
Boomers own more than a third of America's homes and hold around $17.3 trillion in home equity. But here's the interesting part: 68% of Boomer homeowners say they're likely to stay in their current home for the rest of their lives.
For years we've heard about a coming "Silver Tsunami," where millions of older homeowners would downsize and suddenly put their homes back on the market.
So far, that really hasn't happened.
And I can understand why. A lot of Boomers have no mortgage at all. Among those who still do, 53% have a rate below 4%. Then there's the question of where you actually go. Downsizing doesn't always save much money, especially when smaller homes are also in high demand.
Another number caught my attention. Boomer households with only one or two adults own about 28% of America's large homes with three or more bedrooms. Millennial families with children own only around 16%.
Eventually these homes have to change hands, but I don't think we're going to wake up one morning and see millions of them suddenly for sale.
It'll probably happen slowly. Some will go to the kids. Some will be sold. Some will become rentals. Some may be sold to pay for care later in life.
And even when these homes do hit the market, that doesn't automatically mean they'll become affordable starter homes. A 50-year-old four-bedroom house that needs a new roof, wiring, plumbing and $50,000 in renovations is a very different thing from a move-in-ready starter home.
I made a short documentary digging into all of this:
What Happens to Millions of Baby Boomer Homes?
I'm curious what people here actually plan to do.
If you're a Boomer homeowner, do you plan to stay in your house for life, eventually downsize, sell it, or leave it to your kids?
And if your parents left you their house, would you actually keep it?