Relative affordability and proximate access to family members and friends are the key drivers to what should sustainably support one of the two biggest demand streams in new housing and development over the next decade: the 55+ market.
Two of every five Americans say they move when they retire. Even more, 43%, might prefer to move if they could, and the three most important criteria for where people who move choose to live are affordable cost of living, proximity to family and friends, and access to healthcare and good hospitals.
These are some of the findings in a recently released analysis from Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, called The Current State of Retirement: Pre-Retiree Expectations and Retiree Realities.
New Strategist Press editorial director Cheryl Russell zeroes in here on some of the survey's key findings, including:
The single biggest reason retirees moved was to downsize (34 percent), followed by to reduce expenses (29 percent), to start a new chapter in life (28 percent), and to be closer to family and friends (27 percent). Multiple responses to this question were allowed.
One of the telling data points in the Transamerica Center report focuses on retirees' and 55+ workers' choices with respect to senior living communities, per se.
A large majority of age 50+ workers (71 percent) would prefer to live in single family home in retirement, and a similar proportion of retirees (70 percent) actually do live in a single family home. Surprisingly, few retirees (5 percent) live in a retirement community, and only slightly more age 50+ workers would prefer to live in one when they retire.
This strong preference likely aligns with survey respondents' current health status--a big majority--seven out of 10--of retirees say they're in excellent health, and expect a long retirement (i.e. they plan to live long lives).
Emphasis on affordability, ties to family and friends, and access to good healthcare ties to what retirees name as their top three fears:
Among retirees, their greatest fears about retirement are declining health that requires long-term care and that Social Security will cease to exist in the future (44 percent, respectively). Among age 50+ workers, the most frequently cited fear is outliving their savings and investments (43 percent). Retirees are more likely than age 50+ workers to fear cognitive decline and being unable to find meaningful ways to spend time and stay involved. On the contrary, age 50+ workers are more likely than retirees to fear that they will not be able to meet the basic needs of their families and will not have access to affordable healthcare.
The pervasiveness and intensity of these fears describe, of course, the magnitude of both the challenge and opportunity developers, community and home builders have, being in the business of assuaging them.
People who've reached the age of 55 and are either retired or still working "hire" community developers and builders to provide them a place that's both protective--of physical, emotional, and financial interests--and enabling them to prosper. In other words, builders and developers are in the business of well-being, which can allow them free-range as to the design, engineering, and construction models that create well-being as a value.
