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This article is, honestly, a hit job, thinly based on a few facts to lead the horse to water, with a much healthier dose of innuendo and ignoring of other facts to keep him drinking. And, surprise, surprise, it's written by a millennial who clearly has an axe to grind.
Full disclosure: I am not a millennial or a boomer; I am of Gen X. My parents are not boomers; they're of the Silent Generation. Certainly many bad things about today's society can be laid at the feet of boomers - inaction on climate change, in particular - and I am much more liberal than the typical boomer (not that that should matter). But there are some fundamental issues with the author's premises and overall narrative.
First, let's talk numbers. The Baby Boom generation spans 19 calendar years, from 1946 through 1964. (It's always struck me as odd to think that someone born in 1946 might have much in common with a 1964 baby.) It's significantly longer than either Gen X (1965 through 1980, 16 years) or the Millennial Generation (1981 through 1996, also 16 years). As of 2019, there were almost as many boomers (69.6M) as there were millennials (72.1M), and certainly there were far more boomers who were of typical homeownership age. (Those born in 1996 were only ~23 in 2019 and are only ~25 now. I bought my first place at 26, and that was considered quite young for homeownership even 20+ years ago.) So, yes, of course boomers have more real estate wealth than any other cohort; there are more of them than almost any other group, and they've been of working age for anywhere from 39 to 57 years.
Secondly, since the Baby Boom generation is both very long and very large, many late boomers aren't all that close to retirement age yet. My sister-in-law is a late boomer, but at 58, she's probably a good 6-10 years from retirement, with downsizing or moving to a retirement community still a good deal further down the line, and there are millions like her.
Thirdly, people are living longer, remaining able-bodied longer and even working longer, so yes, the rate of real estate turnover due to aging has undoubtedly declined. Pair that with the millennials, who are the largest living generation, and Gen X, who are not going anywhere for a while, and yes, if the housing stock is not growing significantly, there's going to be a crunch.
(It's worth noting that despite all the handwringing about how hard millennials have had it, Gen Xers have also had their fair share of economic challenges in the midst of their prime earning years. All of us were of working age during 9/11, the burst of the dot-com bubble and the ensuing economic crisis and doldrums of the mid-2000s, as well as the Great Recession, and most of us are too old and/or too far into our careers to seriously consider a career change in the wake of the chaos of the COVID economy, yet are simultaneously too young to retire. Many were a quarter to halfway into their careers by the mid-2000s, only to see their pensions unilaterally frozen by their employers in what was basically the golden age of pension reform, meaning that even if they work for their companies for 40 years, they'll only get credit for time served up until the freezing of the pension, somewhere around 3-10 years, meaning they'll be lucky if their eventual monthly pension is as large as a car payment. Some even got the double-whammy of seeing tens of thousands of dollars of 401(k) matches wiped out when their employers filed for bankruptcy and the 401(k) matches, which were in company stock that the employees were not allowed to sell - yes, that practice was once rather common - became completely worthless.)
The author mentions that baby boomers are "aging in place," as if that were a bad thing. If people are able to continue to live on their own longer than previous generations, more power to them. It's probably also better for our economy as well as our insurance and healthcare systems. But the insinuation appears to be, "the boomers need to move out, it's the millennials' turn!" My parents - older than boomers - are still perfectly capable of living at home; should they just get out of the way so that someone can come in and gut their house?
While I am sympathetic to the desire of the millennials to finally settle down and buy some real estate (I can recall when they only wanted to rent and scoffed at the notion of buying), the author of this article seems eager to lay the blame for their predicament heavily at the feet of the boomers. cwkimbro, as usual, did a good job above deliniating some much more likely drivers of the current shortage. While I am not a fan of the boomer generation in general, I also very much doubt a significant portion of them is sitting around saying, "It'd make sense for us to downsize right now, but wouldn't you rather stick it to the millennials?" So I think the tenor of the article is way off, even if some of the facts are loosely correct. With things as significant as real estate, people are going to try to do what's best for themselves, whether they're boomers, millennials or Gen Xers.
I digress. The boomers are heavily
Last edited by KevKitchen; 07-27-2021 at 07:52 AM..
Reason: Accident
Just my opinion, but I've been a landlord in the past and this recent government overreach forcing landlords to sit on their hands while not collecting rent and not being allowed to evict makes me never want to be a landlord again. Simply too risky in this day and age. I think "most" landlords will choose to sell empty units vs. trying to rent them again so more units for sale and less for rent. And wannabe landlords know the game has changed, too much risk with covid still lingering.
I haven't heard of .gov providing any further lifeline to deadbeat renters. In Illinois the eviction moratorium ends Saturday 7/31.
Going to need special housing courts to sort through 18 months of eviction filings.
Millions of people are about to face a harsh reality of nowhere to live. I landlord & will not accept a tenet with an eviction on file unless I get a 3 month deposit, plus 1st & last all upfront. I would rather leave it on the market for another month or three, just too risky otherwise. There are landlords who will rent to them but those LL are going to be overwhelmed with applicants. Also I would never rent to a tenet if I found out they took advantage of the mortem during covid and never attempted to pay, as they showed their hand.
Going to need special housing courts to sort through 18 months of eviction filings.
Millions of people are about to face a harsh reality of nowhere to live. I landlord & will not accept a tenet with an eviction on file unless I get a 3 month deposit, plus 1st & last all upfront. I would rather leave it on the market for another month or three, just too risky otherwise. There are landlords who will rent to them but those LL are going to be overwhelmed with applicants. Also I would never rent to a tenet if I found out they took advantage of the mortem during covid and never attempted to pay, as they showed their hand.
And so it begins! >
Congress fails to extend eviction moratorium, despite last-minute effort
After scrambling for votes all day, the House of Representatives on Friday failed to pass a bill that would have extended a freeze on evictions that is slated to expire Saturday.
Congress fails to extend eviction moratorium, despite last-minute effort
After scrambling for votes all day, the House of Representatives on Friday failed to pass a bill that would have extended a freeze on evictions that is slated to expire Saturday.
Private Equity Firms like Blackstone are distorting the real estate market by hoarding too many unused single family homes.
This business practice almost caused these firms to go completely insolvent, if not for being bailed out by former President Obama in his final year in office.
But once again, corporate media is hiding this situation, likely due to conflict of interest.
Private Equity Firms like Blackstone are distorting the real estate market by hoarding too many unused single family homes.
This business practice almost caused these firms to go completely insolvent, if not for being bailed out by former President Obama in his final year in office.
But once again, corporate media is hiding this situation, likely due to conflict of interest.
In Raliegh and its suburbs, people are giving $80-$100K in cash upfront hoping to beat out the other 15 or so bidders on houses, sometimes site unseen.
A good house will get 20 offers in 2 days, and i read that people make offers on 10-15 properties and still come up empty.
But I've been riding around different areas and i think Atlanta has a lot of new townhouses and infill virtually everywhere.
There's plenty of Northern burbs in Cobb and Gwinnett that look rundown with thousands of homes looking worse than standard middle class single family homes, so I would say there's lots of up and coming neighborhoods in the future.
I see new construction townhomes in the 400s in Scottdale/not nice parts of Decatur, Duluth as well. I guess 400s is the new affordable, since new homes in more desirable areas often start around 700 ! Decent resales (like a not too old single family in Johns Creek) start in the 500s.
Within the metro, builders don't have a lot of land to build on (either take over a church and its land or a defunct commercial real estate property).
Read up about a huge Duluth project by Ashton Woods called Encore. They took over a golf course and are building a huge development, with homes from the high 200s to 800s and over. I drove by, and was turned off by the vape shop near one of the entrances...
At the moment, you just have to accept smaller/older if you don't want to pay.
I see new construction townhomes in the 400s in Scottdale/not nice parts of Decatur, Duluth as well. I guess 400s is the new affordable, since new homes in more desirable areas often start around 700 ! Decent resales (like a not too old single family in Johns Creek) start in the 500s.
Within the metro, builders don't have a lot of land to build on (either take over a church and its land or a defunct commercial real estate property).
Read up about a huge Duluth project by Ashton Woods called Encore. They took over a golf course and are building a huge development, with homes from the high 200s to 800s and over. I drove by, and was turned off by the vape shop near one of the entrances...
At the moment, you just have to accept smaller/older if you don't want to pay.
OMG, for the longest time I noticed the townhomes newly built in between Piedmont near I-85 with all the strips clubs and Cheshire Bridge on the other side and thought my God, that can't be a good place to buy a new townhome and live.
But I recently drove through the 3-4 different developments and it's like you've been transported to La Jolla, CA or some fancy resort, at least one of them felt like that and the others are pleasantly attractive too.
That area is so low in elevation compared to the red light it's encompassed by that you cannot see any visual reminder until about 50 feet from the those two roads.
I would love to live in that little "valley". It was definitely shockingly nice.
Also near the industrial West Midtown thoroughfares they are really infilling with nice and expensive townhomes off Huff Road near Marietta St in $500-700K range. I like the all brick ones because at least they seem sturdy and brick is timeless in its appearance.
I think the contrast of such an unkempt, industrial area with kudzu and overgrown weeds beside the derelict streets against the tidy, new townhomes is what people are loving whether conscious of it or not.]
That run-down patina is abundant in much of Atlanta and I believe that's why our building boom hasn't stopped.
It's almost too many hip areas to take out of towners to when visiting. Krog, PCM, West side Provision, Highland and Ralph McGill by the Beltline, and more that I don't know yet.
Congress fails to extend eviction moratorium, despite last-minute effort
After scrambling for votes all day, the House of Representatives on Friday failed to pass a bill that would have extended a freeze on evictions that is slated to expire Saturday.
The entire Southeast has so many "we're hiring" signs that even factories on I-85 have huge banners on the sides of the theirs buildings seeking workers;
I like Biden, but his agenda has seemed not in step with the current economy though we could be headed back to where we were.
When restaurants can't find enough people to operate and do business, then emergency programs like this aren't apropos.
I'm going to tell the folks at our intersections holding signs that if they picked up some of trash at our intersections and had a sign asking for donations people would be handing them bills left and right.
Im going to pick up some myself but I don't want any money for it.
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