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Baby Boomer Retirement Real Estate – Buy, Hold, or Sell

Category: Retirement Real Estate

May 19, 2007 — For baby boomers trying to figure out whether this is the time to buy into a retirement community, the recent news is balanced. There is some good news, bad news, and neutral news. On the whole it seems like this is still a buyers’ market, although no one can predict if the bottom has been reached.

On the economic side:

Good news: New unemployment claims are down for the 5th straight week (Labor Department)

Not quite so good: Consumer prices and leading economic indicators from the Conference Board’s April figures are down slightly

Reassuring: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke commented on the sub-prime mortgage problem that he “does not expect significant spillovers (from it) to the rest of the economy”. He was cautioning Congress not to pass legislation toughening lending laws

Disappointing: Housing starts fell to their lowest levels in 17 years, according to the New York Times

Positive: New home construction rose in April

Condo Sales and Prices
A lot of active adults in retirement purchase condos, so they are probably curious what is happening in that sphere. Here are some new figures from the National Association of Realtors:

The national median price of a condo stood at $224,500 in 2007’s first quarter, an increase of 1.0% from 1st Q 2006.

More metros had price declines (31) than increases (27) or unchanged (1)

Highest price increases occurred in the Salt Lake, UT area (up almost 26%)

Lowest median price condos are in Bismarck, SD ($91,600) and most expensive are in San Francisco area ($584,700). Sarasota/Bradenton/Venice condo prices are second highest at $413,900

Existing Home Sales
The NAR reported that 1st Quarter sales of existing homes and condos were off 6.6% from the
2006 first quarter, but up 2.4% from the last quarter of 2006.

See this link for other Topretirement stories on retirement real estate bubble?. For more about baby boomer retirement.

Here is a list of all of the active adult retirement communities reviewed at Topretirements