Boomers' deaths will open up homes in broad swaths of Greater Worcester
Photo | Grant Welker
Construction on new residences at Riverbridge in Berlin are adding to a relatively very limited amount of new inventory in the housing market.
Baby Boomers are increasingly advancing into retirement and in the coming decades will begin dying in larger numbers.
That, according to a new report from real estate website Zillow, will bring needed home turnover to the Worcester area and other parts of the county that, without significant new home construction, have been hampered by low home inventory. The expected influx of available homes will bring a substantial boost to the housing supply similar to a construction boom before the Great Recession, according to Zillow.
In broad stretches of the Worcester metropolitan area, more than one in four homes will hit the market by 2037, Zillow data shows.
[Related: What to expect in 2020: Home prices will start to get out of hand]
In towns west of Worcester, including Holden, Leicester and Spencer, 27.5% of homes will become available once older residents pass away, Zillow said, among the highest rates in Central or Eastern Massachusetts outside Cape Cod and the Islands.
Across northern Central Massachusetts, from Groton to Athol, including Fitchburg and Leominster, the rate will exceed 26%. In the city of Worcester, the rate will be a bit lower at 23.7%. Southern Worcester County will average 24% turnover.
MetroWest has lower rates. Rates were below 23% in a region stretching from Clinton to Shrewsbury to Milford, and 20.4% in the combined area of Framingham, Marlborough and Natick.
[Related: Mass. homeowners 5th most likely to be approved for refinancing]
The national average is 27.4%.
Popular retirement hubs in Arizona and Florida, and regions where young residents have left, largely in the Rust Belt, have the highest rates, according to Zillow. The Boston combined statistical area — a geographically broader measure than a metropolitan area, including parts of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island — will average 26.4% turnover. That matches exactly the average of the regions around the country's largest cities.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
Don't get too anxious to wish us all dead, or to wax optimistic about our impending demises resulting in an influx of homes on the market turning into affordable housing. Judging from current news reports, those homes will likely be getting snapped up for cash by investors seeking to park money into a commodity for which they can get tax concessions (or just to flat-out launder money). Cash has always been king. Also, those homes have aged along with us, and new buyers may prefer residences that don't need costly updating. Last but not least, the photo that accompanies this article highlights new residences being built, not the old ones from which we'll have to be carried out feet first.
2 Comments