Survey Shatters Stereotype of Where Today’s Retirees Want to Live

The Huffington Post shares a study done on retirees and their housing preferences. Two-thirds of the respondents say “they’re living in the best home of their lives.”

The study was conducted by Age Wave in partnership with Merrill Lynch and titled Home in Retirement: More Freedom, New Choices. A representative sample of over 3,600 adults nationwide were surveyed because, as Merrill Lynch points out, "How and where our nation's aging population chooses to live will have widespread implications on the way homes are designed and renovated, the resources people will need, and how businesses nationwide need to prepare."

According to the Huffington Post, the popular belief that retirees want to stay put or move to an age-restricted retirement community was not reflected in the survey response.

The survey found that 37 percent of today’s retirees have moved at least once since retiring, and another 27 percent expect to move at some point. Only 7 percent reported living in retirement communities.

When it comes to relocating to their current retirement home, 29 percent responded that they wanted to be closer to family, followed by 26 percent saying they wanted to reduce home expenses.

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