The Baby Boom

I believe the Baby Boom generation is the single most disruptive force in our country in the next 20 years.  I first came to this conclusion in 2003, and until 2007, I was pretty much on target in real estate.  The credit crisis of 2007 thru ??? (hopefully not much past 2009…) is simply delaying a lot of the inevitable changes this demographic bulge is bringing… And creating new opportunities in retirement planning and income.

While many of the changes to Real Estate are yet to come, the changes on income, savings, and investment are being felt today.

This Baby Boom generation will exert tremendous pressures on real estate, on communities, on wealth, and on income. As they retire, build dream homes, go on vacation, age, and require medical care, the Boomers will affect their environments.

Many suburban Baby Boomers are looking for meaning, small town values, and quality of life, yet still expect the services, medical facilities, and amenities of urban living.

They bring their money with them, but may want to work in eclectic shops, find meaning in classes and learning, and stay well with health and nutrition.
National demographic studies by Del Webb, the Nation’s largest boomer-focused builder, indicate that most Boomers do not want to move far from their kids and their communities in retirement.

Del Webb builds active adult communities all over the country for Boomers and downsizers who want to stay within 2-4 hours of kids and cities.
The Sun Belt will surely experience significant growth, but smaller communities across the country and especially the West will see land development, housing growth, and service sector growth to support this demographic.

Not only will carefully crafted master planned communities be needed for the Boomers, but the lifestyle communities the Boomers favor will need affordable homes, condos, and apartments for the service workers, medical workers, and builders who serve them.

I prefer smaller communities in the Inter-Mountain and Pacific Northwest, and believe there is opportunity to serve this demographic and their related service sector growth in places as diverse as Medford, Oregon, near the Ashland Shakespeare Festival, and Whitefish, Montana, a ski and summer resort at the mouth of Glacier National Park. These places defy preconceived notions of sunny retirement property, but they both present real opportunities solidly grounded in economics and demographics. The smaller communities of the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest abound with opportunity.