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Retirement Housing Forecast, Part 3: Design

John Burns -- 6/30/2003

John Burns

The aging baby boomers will continue to redefine new home design. The new home industry built their large homes on small lots in the 1980s and their gate-guarded castles in the 1990s.

In this decade and the next, builders and developers will build the homes and communities that allow retirees to re-connect with their friends and family. Current and future retirees do not want a house built for old people. They want an easy-living home that an Olympic athlete would also enjoy, and their preferences will vary greatly based on their socioeconomic status and their values. Here are the generalities I have concluded about the future of new home design for retirees:

The AARP and Building Codes
The AARP, which almost everyone joins after turning 50 years old, regularly educates its constituents on housing issues. Consumers are learning more about universal design because the AARP is becoming a major proponent of universal design, as evidenced by the following comments from its educational information:

"The universal design home is the home of the future ..."
"A universal design home is right for all people - whether at age 8 or 80."
"If you are building a new home, include universal design elements in your planning to make it a home for the 21st century."

If that isn't enough to make you pay attention, legislation requiring builders to incorporate universal design concepts already exists in Tucson, Ariz., and efforts to promote voluntary builder adoption of universal design concepts are already occurring in California and Georgia. More information will be available in my Retirement Housing Forecast, which will be available for $295 to $595 per market on July 21, 2003, with discounts available for multiple market purchases.

Redefining Active Adult
The term "active adult" has become linked with the large communities where thousands of retirees join a resortlike club in a sunny climate. In the future, "active adult" will apply to a much wider profile of home buyers who will buy locally, as well as in the amenity-laden resort communities.

I have confidence that builders will build a wide variety of retirement communities this decade because census data shows that approximately 24% of those who turned 65 in the 1990s bought a home during the decade, and the number of buyers will increase almost 50% from 2003 to 2011. We also know that approximately 75% of the buyers will purchase locally, and they fall into 11 primary psychographic profiles with a wide variety of housing needs.

Universal Design
Here are some of the universal design features I believe builders should incorporate in almost all of their homes because they are inexpensive to include and they are desired as much by families with 3-year-old children as by senior citizens:

General Design

Kitchen

Bath

Technology Options

For More Information
Other great sources of design information include:

My final report in this four-part series will discuss the general strategies we suggest to increase sales in all communities, whether they are age-restricted or not.

About the AuthorJohn Burns publishes three free Building Market Intelligence e-mails each month: U.S., Local and Strategic. He helps real estate executives develop and execute strategic plans, conduct market research and maximize profitability. More information is available at www.realestateconsulting.com.

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