Two Studies Say Boomer Sell-Off Coming to Housing Market

Two new studies anticipate that the U.S. housing market is in for a mass unloading of homes by Baby Boomers. Currently, Boomers own two of every five homes in the nation.

One of the studies, from Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research Group, says they expect a "glut" of homes coming onto the market as Boomers depart the market by selling off their homes, and pass away. The second study, by the Stephen S. Fuller Institute at George Mason University, focuses on Washington, D.C., and echoes the first study's findings: Some longtime owners “may have difficulty attaining the price gains they witnessed in their neighborhoods during recent years,” according to the Fuller Institute’s deputy director and author Jeannette Chapman, The Chicago Tribune reports.

Not everybody agrees. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, says such dark forecasts ignore positive developments well underway — strong U.S. population growth, the rising importance of foreign-born buyers who will help sop up the oversupply of large houses in metropolitan suburbs, and the “glacial” speed at which the oversupply is likely to manifest itself. Yun is emphatic: There should be “no measurable price declines” attributable to the boomers.

Read more