The great housing dilemma - baby boomers aren't moving

[lizzie]

You hit the nail on the head Skater. Boomers aren't planning on downsizing YET! Once they get to 80 odd and realise they are not invincible, they'll change their minds. But for now they think they're still 30-somethings and are behaving accordingly. Now, if only Mick Jagger would hurry up and die, they might get a reality check...

Cheers,
Michael

a big point is that 50-65 is NOT old nowadays. at that age most are still very active, have their hobbies, social life, kids at home, grandkids over regularly, swim, play tennis, work etc so need the space.

do not confuse the current crop of 60+s with their parents ... the previous generation that went thru wars and depressions WERE generally physically old by 60 (although my grandmother is 92 and still living in a 3 bed home with no assistance - and a social life that makes me tired!).

 

[neK]

A bit late as a post reply, but the family house, and family home are words worlds apart, the place where your youngans feel safe and have grown , fought, loved and partied , its usally a place were we gather each festive season, get pissed fight and hug with our siblings each and every year, when this special place is gone only to resort to some forieghn park where mums roast dinner is'nt the same any more!

This would be the exact reason why I would never let my parents sell their house to anyone outside of the family.

If it ever came to that point, I would much rather sell down my own assets just to make sure it stayed within the family.

For me, that is where I grew up and while its not in the best condition and probably wont make financial sense to sell a good income producing asset to purchase it. I'd probably even keep it vacant just so I can it for family gatherings, purely a lifestyle choice. You just cant put a dollar amount on the preservation of memories.

In the end the house would probably be sold, just a generation later.

 

[MichaelW]

a big point is that 50-65 is NOT old nowadays. at that age most are still very active, have their hobbies, social life, kids at home, grandkids over regularly, swim, play tennis, work etc so need the space.

do not confuse the current crop of 60+s with their parents ... the previous generation that went thru wars and depressions WERE generally physically old by 60 (although my grandmother is 92 and still living in a 3 bed home with no assistance - and a social life that makes me tired!).

Hi Lizzie,

In general I think that's true, people aren't displaying the frailties of age as early as they used to. But that's not always the case. My parents in their mid 60's came to Brisbane last week and minded my son while Kay and I went on a one week liveaboard dive cruise on the great barrier reef, but I digress... The point is, we went for a drive into the Gold Coast Hinterland with them when we got back to the natural bridge, a nice arch formation with a waterfall falling through it. Its an easy 800m circle walk which my son, who is just 5, did with ease. But my Mum was seriously considering piking because it was all too far and too difficult. She's 63 and an 800m walk is too taxing. Her Mum died at 69 and looked 80 at the time. Bad genetics I guess, but some 60-somethings aren't long for this world.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[marg4000]

News for you Michael, I and a lot of my peers intend to hang around for quite a while yet!! Surely the whole point is to hang around long enough to be a problem to your kids ??????

As I qualify (only just!) for the 60+ demographic, I can share a few insights.

We, and most of our friends, are perfectly happy in our homes, and have no intention of moving. We are mostly working, even if part time, and have very active social lives as well as being very involved in family activities. Mind you, my grandson was a bit disappointed when I would not play tackle footy with him in the backyard and insisted on soccer....

The only reason we can see to move would be if we wanted to live in a different town or city, but a bit of the gloss seems to have gone off the ubiquitous "sea-change" or "tree-change". Family and friends become even more important as the years go on.

As Kristine said, we know of people older than us who have moved - to a bigger house. Four bedrooms seems to be the minimum standard.

After years of kids occupying every corner or our home, we are enjoying having a study, a sewing room, a proper spare room.... Fortunately our home has no steps so should be OK as we get older and maybe less agile. I reckon a couple of grab rails here and there should do the trick.

Maybe by our mid 70s we will be considering retirement villages and looking at higher care options..... then again, maybe not!!
Marg

 

[lizzie]

But that's not always the case.

that's why i said "most" and "generally".

can't avoid bad genetics, but overall the over 60's are a more active and longer living bunch.

however - as you said - her mother died young but i think you'll find your mother will last quite a bit longer than her's did. and she must be pretty good to be minding the grandkiddies for a week.

it isn't said "the 40's are the new 30's" for no reason (and flow on).

 

[Ausprop]

there is a general denial in society about ones age. we can deny gentics for only so long. I have seen so mnay people drop dead in their 50s and 60s (including both my inlaws in the space of 12 months) that I think anyone thinking of climbing stairs at the age of 100 is optomistic at best. The elder generation will deny their age for as long as possible but I would expect a glut of family homes over the next 10 - 30 years as the boomers leave the earth.

 

[Sunfish]

I would expect a glut of family homes over the next 10 - 30 years as the boomers leave the earth.

I beg to differ. I'm a pre-boomer so my house will, but it is a modest 3 br weatherboard so you won't want it anyway. The boomers never bought into the property market in a rush, nor will they vacate in a rush.

Boomers never "pushed house prices beyond the reach of the young" (I only know of one friend/rellie who has paid a "high" price for a house) nor will their aging cause housing to become affordable again. I have never really checked but I think you'll find quite a high percentage of boomers actually built (sometimes physically constructed) their own homes so I think the demographic effects of them is overstated. You need another scapegoat for the boom and another solution of it. But of course the denizens of SS are not looking for any solution anyway.

 

[Aaron Sice]

my eldest client - a stately 78 - still skips down stairs.

 

[Ausprop]

hey I never said boomers pushed up prices What i am saying is... life is very much a daily propositiion and very much more so as you pass 50. At 78 it's great if you can skip the stairs but brace yourself because you are statistically close to death. Dead people don't need houses. I am sensing a lot of resitance to accepting death, which is normal, so I will leave this thread now.


http://www.aihw.gov.au/mortality/life_expectancy/compares.cfm

--------------------------
Life expectancy estimates (years) for selected countries, by sex, 2005-2010
Top 15

Country Male

Australia 79

 

[wylie]

My 81 year old mother-in-law has a 90 year old boyfriend. Both of them have more "get up and go" than many folk half their age (including me ).

My parents also upsized from a three bed/one bath house to a four bed/three bath house with huge area used for quilting (would have made a great granny flat)... a very modern house. As Marg said, to have a whole house and dedicate rooms to whatever they wanted was something quite new to them.

The felt like they were living in a resort, and stopped going away for those occasional weekends that they had done for a while. They liked their house better than any resort.

 

[Sunfish]

Dead people don't need houses. I am sensing a lot of resitance to accepting death, which is normal, so I will leave this thread now.

Don't be like that Aussie. I know what you are saying and you are right.

And I know that you, personally, didn't say BB's caused house prices to rise. Maybe I'm just touchy (OK, I AM touchy sometimes) but on chat sites such as this we (BBs) are blamed for everything that others don't like and it does become tiresome.

My argument starts and ends with the point that I don't believe the dire demographic predictions (which seems to be the point the original poster was making). I base this on observations of my peers.

 

[Aaron Sice]

i'm genXY, BBs ARE to blame for everything.....

 

[FormerLurker]

there is a general denial in society about ones age. we can deny gentics for only so long. I have seen so mnay people drop dead in their 50s and 60s (including both my inlaws in the space of 12 months) that I think anyone thinking of climbing stairs at the age of 100 is optomistic at best. The elder generation will deny their age for as long as possible but I would expect a glut of family homes over the next 10 - 30 years as the boomers leave the earth.

I don't know about this Ausprop - I suspect a lot will just be inherited by the kids and kept in the family and/or sold by the kids to fund their own house purchases. Either way they won't so much be flooding the market as promoting another spurt of buying as kids now have money to spend.

my 2 cents anyways - we may all be on the moon in bubble houses by then eating pill form food with a choice of clothing from the startrek catalogue.

 

[MichaelW]

News for you Michael, I and a lot of my peers intend to hang around for quite a while yet!! Surely the whole point is to hang around long enough to be a problem to your kids ??????

Hi Marg,

And I wish you and your peers every success in that endeavour, although, to be honest, the degree to which you can influence your hang-around-ishness is limited... Exercise and eat well and you might add a year or two, but we're not immortal. Even my 5YO son understands the circle of life now thanks to The Land Before Time.

To be clear, I HOPE the Boomers stick around in their big houses for as long as possible. As an investor, the last thing I want is a glut of property in any category upsetting the equilibrium and impacting prices. But, if my reading is correct, there's about as many Xers as Boomers, so in reality the Boomers downsizing will just result in a generational handover of property with not too much price impact. Again from memory, the Boomers were a lot larger demographic than the Heroes? (War generation) before them so that is why they are credited with having a significant impact in a lot of areas such as house prices. They were the demographic wave that swept all before them, but the Xers are not another wave, more of a matching king tide following the equally sized Boomers along.

Long live the Boomers! May you be sprightly and energetic right up until you drop dead without ever seeing it coming!! Sounds like a good way to go to me.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[wylie]

Long live the Boomers! May you be sprightly and energetic right up until you drop dead without ever seeing it coming!! Sounds like a good way to go to me.

Absolutely!!!

 

[RickF]

My mum and dad sold the family home when they hit 60. Mind you it was a huge house being that I am one of six kids. The reason they sold was because three of my siblings just wouldn't move out of home. Too easy for them. Mum and dad downsized to a three bedroom house until dad passed away at the ripe old age of 64. Came as a shock to everyone, just dropped dead on the bowling green. Never smoked, rarely drank and exercised regularly but that is life.
After that mum downsized again into a two bedroom unit. She just turned 70 and loves her garden and her unit. She is very active and is going overseas next year to spend the kids inheritance which I am actively encouraging.
The thing is life does change and sometimes unexpectedly. When my folks decided to sell the family home a couple of us wanted to keep it in the family but it just wasn't feasible even though we were very emotionally attached. Family gatherings are still great and we rotate who's place it is at.
All of my mum's siblings bar two out of seven have downsized. It is just easier for them and all my cousins have been through similar feelings of wanting to keep the house but it never happened. The memories are there but it is a good example of how downsizing happens to a number of people without giving up independence or lifestyle. Another thing it did for my folks was free up a large amount of funds so that they could retire in comfort and do whatever they wanted such as travel. Now mum and her friends are busy terrorizing various establishments with all their free time. They are hardly going out quietly!

 

[Sunfish]

i'm genXY, BBs ARE to blame for everything.....

I rest my case.

 

[lizzie]

Long live the Boomers! May you be sprightly and energetic right up until you drop dead without ever seeing it coming!! Sounds like a good way to go to me.

haha - we have a saying in our family - "hope we do a snow".

snow was my fil's eldest brother who was watching his favorite team play rugby league - go so excited when they scored the winning goal that he had a heart attack and died on the spot at 81.

what a brilliant way to go!

 

[Ausprop]

alright I can't resist.

I am unsure on whether i believe there will be a flood of such housing. i thought abotu 5 years ago that it would happen yet things seem to be turning out differently. it WAS the case that it was fashionable and all about high denisty and low maintenance, yet the old adage of land going up and buildings going down seems to be sticking. i had a low maintenace home and its cap growth was blown out of the water by nearby high maintenance older homes. so now i am thinking... do i want the nice new low maint home on a smaller block or do i endure the larger block with all the weeds and gardening hassles? do i truly believe there will be a flood of hosuing? not sure

 

[Sunfish]

do i truly believe there will be a flood of hosuing? not sure

So we've found some common ground. That wasn't hard was it?