The Changing Face of Retirement

Trend forecasters rightfully focus on the housing needs of millennials when predicting the future of the U.S. real estate market. But the rising senior population, sometimes referred to as a “silver tsunami,” suggests baby boomers shouldn’t be written out of the story just yet. 

“Between 2010 and 2040, we predict the nation’s 65-plus population will grow by roughly 90 percent,” says Hamilton Lombard, a demographics researcher for the University of Virginia. “In some areas of the country, most of the population growth will come from retirees.”

This ballooning number of seniors will impact industries as diverse as health care, technology, and, especially, real estate, as changing expectations around retirement mean new challenges and opportunities for developers. 

Here are some of the trends—many overlapping, some contradictory—shaping how this generation will spend its golden years, demonstrating that older Americans, like millennials, are far from homogenous.

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