Young apartment buyers may have the short stick when it comes to snapping up square metres against their parents’ generation, as more baby boomers in the US downsize upon retirement.
Baby boomers on the brink of retirement in the US are starting to hone in on buying apartments that their childrens’ generation are also after, according to an article in the NZ Herald.
Recent data shows that among the 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day in the States, half of those who plan to move will downsize and it’s showing - with boomers renting apartments and buying flats at more than twice the rate of their millennial children.
The outlook for cash-strapped millenials doesn’t look too promising against their baby boomer parents, which data shows are relatively well-off when they decide to search for smaller quarters.
"Boomers will pay a premium if you can give them exactly what they want," said Matt Robinson, principal at MRP Realty in the District. "Something closer to what was in their house, and that pushes up the price; they're happy to pay for it."
While young Americans have the disadvantage, with many having entered the job market in the middle of the recession and have had little time to build wealth while grappling with repaying student-loan debt.
Jefferson Freeman, a 25-year-old researcher at a public affairs firm, said that he is one of the youngest people living in his apartment building in Southeast Washington's Navy Yard neighborhood.
Over the past two years, he said, more boomers have moved in and are willing to pay the $2,400 a month that it costs to rent a two-bedroom apartment and that he’ll be forced to move in rental prices go any higher.
"A lot of people my age, if prices continue going up, will probably start moving toward big group houses," he said.
Recent data shows that among the 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day in the States, half of those who plan to move will downsize and it’s showing - with boomers renting apartments and buying flats at more than twice the rate of their millennial children.
The outlook for cash-strapped millenials doesn’t look too promising against their baby boomer parents, which data shows are relatively well-off when they decide to search for smaller quarters.
"Boomers will pay a premium if you can give them exactly what they want," said Matt Robinson, principal at MRP Realty in the District. "Something closer to what was in their house, and that pushes up the price; they're happy to pay for it."
While young Americans have the disadvantage, with many having entered the job market in the middle of the recession and have had little time to build wealth while grappling with repaying student-loan debt.
Jefferson Freeman, a 25-year-old researcher at a public affairs firm, said that he is one of the youngest people living in his apartment building in Southeast Washington's Navy Yard neighborhood.
Over the past two years, he said, more boomers have moved in and are willing to pay the $2,400 a month that it costs to rent a two-bedroom apartment and that he’ll be forced to move in rental prices go any higher.
"A lot of people my age, if prices continue going up, will probably start moving toward big group houses," he said.
