By Noelle Knox - USA TODAY
The "New American Home 2007" was unveiled last month at the International Builders Show in Orlando to showcase the latest in home design and technology. The ultramodern three-level home comes with a wheelchair ramp and an elevator. There are two bedrooms on the ground floor, each providing a full bath — one with a shower, the other a tub — equipped with a sliding door.
Those design features cater to one of the most powerful trends in the housing industry: Americans ages 55 and older will buy one in every five new homes this year — $103 billion worth — according to research by the National Association of Home Builders.
About 7% of those new homes will be bought in communities designed for the 55-plus crowd. That's a small but growing proportion, and one that few developers can afford to ignore. Home builders will start construction on 145,000 homes in 55-plus communities this year, the NAHB estimates.
Though they tend to be wealthier than younger age groups, many of those nearing retirement say they worry about outliving their savings. They're more active and health-conscious than generations past. And they're working into their sunset years, often in second careers. Those trends are transforming the styles of homes and retirement communities that developers are creating.
"Budding retirees — they're really faced with planning for very long periods of time, and in a time of financial uncertainty," says Dave Schreiner, a vice president for Pulte Homes. With the shaky stock market and low interest rates on savings accounts, he says, "Imagine being a 55-year-old person, thinking about the next 40 years in some pretty daunting circumstances."
