Baby Boomers Say They Are Not Moving Out Of Their Homes
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Money Moves
Baby Boomers say they aren’t moving out of their homes
By Les Christie @CNNMoney October 31, 2014: 2:57 PM ET
The sandwich generation
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Instead of flocking to sunny beach havens or downsizing to a condo in the city during their retirement years, a majority of Baby Boomers say they’re just going to stay put in their old home.
In a survey of 4,000 Baby Boomer households conducted by the non-profit Demand Institute, 63% of Boomers plan to stay in their current home once they retire.
Much of that has to do with the recession. The financial crisis put an end to years of rapid wealth accumulation, causing the typical Boomer household’s net worth to fall to $143,000 in 2013 from just over $200,000 in 2007, according to Federal Reserve data.
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Not only that, but this generation is also carrying a lot more mortgage debt. The survey found that the median outstanding mortgage balance for 50- to 69-year-olds was $118,000 in 2013, up from $48,743 in 1992.
“Boomers’ nest eggs have shrunk dramatically in recent years,” said Jeremy Burbank, vice president at The Demand Institute, the non-profit think tank run by the Conference Board and Nielsen. “Financially, this generation is not necessarily ready for retirement, and half of their assets are tied up in their homes.”
boomers move
Not everyone is planning on staying put, however; 37% of the Boomers surveyed said they were planning to make a move.
Nearly half of the movers said they wanted to get a bigger place — and that they intended to spend more money on it. But with a median net worth of just $40,000, this group was among some of the least wealthy surveyed. In fact, the report found that many of those who were looking to “upsize” were also looking to switch from renting to owning.
Those who said they plan to move into a smaller home were much more affluent, with a median net worth of $322,000, the Demand Institute found.
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