2024 seems like a long time from now. Nine years in the future if my math is correct. Then again, think back to 2006...it doesn't seem like that long ago does it? Nine years ago seems like a blink when you stop and think about it.
The Mortgage Bankers Association wanted to know if mortgage borrowing was going to be good in the future or not (I wonder why?). So they conducted a study. Here's what they found: Baby boomers keep getting older (well, I think everyone is getting older). Since the Boomers are a huge generation, this means that the 60 year old and older demographic is going to spike in the next 9 years. How much? 20 million more folks. The smaller Gen X generation moves into the 45 yr old to 60 yr old slot. So that age distribution will drop over the next 9 years by 4 million. Folks under 45 years old? That spikes up by 18 million. Once you do the math, that's about 16 million more households (the numbers don't work if you just add them up; some folks live together so the number of households is less than the total population). No matter what happens in the short term in real estate due to craziness in China or Greece or where ever, it seems that fundamentally real estate needs are going to be growing in the U.S. You can't just stuff another 16 million people into cardboard boxes; they need housing. Might be a good time to start stockpiling a rental home. Or ten. To read more details about the study, go here
