SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Boomers bumping their kids from apartments, condos

Oct 20, 2015, 8:24 AM | Updated: Mar 4, 2016, 5:46 am

About 10,000 baby boomers are retiring each day, and half of those who plan to move during retirement say they plan to downsize. As such, millennials may find they are up against increasing competition from baby boomers for condos and apartments in urban areas.

So far, the baby boomers may be winning. Baby boomers are renting apartments and buying condos at more than double the rate of their millennial children which could have big implications for cash-strapped kids who had hoped to snag affordable studios in buildings developed to house 20-somethings.

Americans age 55 and older have accounted for 42 percent of the growth in renters over the past 10 years, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. What’s more, the wealthiest of American households comprised about one-third of new renters between 2011 and 2014.

That may price out some millennials, who are still getting their start in the employment world. The costs of rent has reached a record level of $803 a month nationwide, according to government data.

The number of families who pay more than half of their income in rent is expected to increase 11 percent to 13.1 million over the next 10 years, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

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Boomers bumping their kids from apartments, condos