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Posted via email from Holly Wiesner Olivieri , The Staten Island Real Estate Resource
By Jeremy Olshan
- istockphoto
- Baby boomers want new homes that can stylishly accommodate the needs of aging.
The blueprints for retirement are changing, homebuilders say, with baby boomers demanding fewer stories, step-less front entrances and showers, and doorways wide enough to one day easily accommodate wheelchairs.
A survey of what the new homes of 2015 are likely to feature indicates that following the housing bust, aging boomers have more modest notions of where they’d like to live, the National Association of Home Builders says. “Affordability was number one, and with that a substantial reduction in the square footage from years past,” says Stephen Melman, the group’s director of economic services. “They also want grab bars in the bathrooms, step-less showers, and when there is more than one story – they want the ability to put a master bedroom on the first floor.”
While boomers are often said to be ill-prepared for the future, there seems to be a concerted effort to project ahead through the decades and imagine their needs as they become less mobile, Melman says. “We found that 89 percent of older homebuyers want to be able to live in the house for as long as physically possible. As the sandwich generation they watched their own parents and learned how their needs will change.”
But the builders surveyed indicated that the older home buyers wanted the houses to have the capacity to become fully wheelchair accessible “without needing ramps,” Melman says. “I think what they want to do is stay independent – and what they don’t want is the place to look institutional. They don’t want a hospital, but a home.”
Such features are also being designed to appeal to younger families as well to ensure that the homes will have greater resale value, the study found. “One thing we’re no longer seeing is all the fancy spas and kitchens – the goals seem to be more pragmatic and affordable,” Melman adds.
