Is your home ready for a older generation?

The News & Observer reported today that North Carolina's older population is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. About 20 percent of the American population will be older than 65 by the year, 2030, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This would be a major increase from its present 12 percent.

It is expected that North Carolina will be lower than the national average at about 17.5 percent as North Carolina is currently growing rapidly among all age groups.

This expected increase in the older population will have an impact on the national housing market since many of these older Americans will require and demand housing that is more balanced with their lifestyle.

With a growing "active" older population, many of these homeowners will want housing that is more "carefree"; allowing them to travel without the need to maintain yards and other such daily and weekly homeowners duties.

Furthermore, another growing housing segment will be the need for single level homes where the aging population will not have steps to climb. This will be important since so many homes in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill areas have two stories in order to maximize the square footage onto smaller and smaller lots. These same homes will have fewer potential buyers as a growing demographic will be looking for another type of product and one that is somewhat lacking in the communities throughout the Triangle.

Finding a 2,500 square foot ranch in North Raleigh is a challenge for the best real estate agents in the area. As you move into the farther reaches of Wake County, you can find developments that have this type of product, but closer to Raleigh, you find very few of these properties. With the rising land cost, it will be hard for developers to purchase land for this type of product and make it profitable enough to market and sell these units at an affordable rate.

This aging trend will bode well for the condominium projects that have become very popular in the downtown areas, but the affordability for most of these products will not benefit the bulk of the aging population with limited wealth.

It will be an interesting trend to follow to see what happens and what new housing products will come online to assist this growing population.