A recent study says that we will need another 4.5 million homes over the next three decades. Released by Urban Futures, the report points to population growth and increasing life expectancy, and shows a marked departure from past predictions.
While the generation that followed the baby boomers was smaller in number, this lead to forecasting that there would be a meltdown in the housing market as the boomers vacated their homes. Alternatively, growing families and strong immigration has changed these historical projections. Urban Futures says there have been 2.2 million extra occupied homes since 2000, or around 185,000 per year on average. With a large number of seniors living longer and being able to stay in their homes for longer, this figure is edging higher.
The study predicts that 82 percent of those in homes today will still be alive in 2033, and that by 2041 this number will sit around 73 percent. With net migration around one million, it’s easy to see how the figures stack up.
