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The New Retirement: Renting versus Owning a Home in Retirement

Last update on: Feb 03 2020

The current generation of retirees changed a lot of the rules. Here’s another one. According to this article, senior Americans are driving a lot of the growth in the rental apartment market, and most of these seniors can afford to own their homes. They don’t want to. It’s a lifestyle choice that appears to be growing among the new wave of retirees.

“I think it reflects a change in attitude coming out of the housing crash and a greater appreciation for the virtues of renting,” said Chris Herbert, managing director of the JCHS. “There had certainly been a bias toward owning being a better choice, and that is something people are weighing more carefully now.”

High-income households drove nearly 30 percent of rental growth over the last decade. That, in turn, has fueled development of luxury apartment buildings, especially in major metropolitan areas. Completions of these units averaged 300,000 annually over the last two years, their highest level since the end of the 1980’s, according to JCHS.

 

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