More than three-quarters of Americans over 65 own their homes, and that generation’s grip on the housing market is tighter than ever.
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The 61.2 million Americans 65 and older have a homeownership rate of 78.6 percent, according to a census data analysis from the National Association of Home Builders. It’s a lock on supply that younger buyers are still waiting to inherit.
How concentrated is senior homeownership in your corner of the country? Search any of 383 U.S. metro areas below to see the share of households headed by someone 65 or older and how your market stacks up nationally. Then read on for more insight into the markets where seniors dominate.
Boomers and the Silent Generation are 18 percent of the U.S. population, but they hold 34.1 percent of all housing value, some 29.6 million homes worth $13.8 trillion.
That concentration means their retirement decisions aren’t just personal. In the markets where they dominate, whether they downsize, age in place or move to warmer climates will ripple through housing supply for years to come.
But where do all of these older Americans own the largest share of homes? It’s almost entirely in retirement destinations in Florida at the top, which isn’t much of a surprise.
Wildwood-The Villages, Florida, leads every metro in the country at 68.2 percent — more than two in three households headed by someone 65 or older. That’s followed by Homosassa Springs, Punta Gorda, Sebastian-Vero Beach, and Naples-Marco Island, all in Florida, and clustered between 49 percent and 52.7 percent. The rest of the top 15 spreads to Arizona (three metros), New Mexico and Massachusetts. It’s the Sun Belt retirement corridor, with one coastal New England outlier.
