Dollars and Sense: Americans Are on the Move—Especially Seniors!

A recent survey detailed that about 40% of Americans are thinking about a move in 2022, and most hope to buy a home in their new location.

Those most likely to move are:

* 62% of Generation Z (my son and future daughter-in-law just moved from California to Florida)

* 53% of Millennials

* 53% of remote workers

* 52% of renters

* 50% of parents with young children

Though not as high as the aforementioned groups, almost 30% of all seniors (60 years old and higher) will contemplate a move in 2022. To give you an idea of how large this senior exodus is, United Van Lines reported that 29% of their total business in 2021 was seniors!

The top reasons for this intended exodus of seniors are:

* The prohibitive cost of living in their current location

* Lower home costs/prices in their new location

* Lower income and property taxes in their new location—tax friendly states such as Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Florida are the top five

* Lower cost of living in a new location, with top locations being the states of Florida, Utah, and Texas

* Better weather in a new location—Western and Southern cities make up the top 10

* Retirement—20% of all senior moves were primarily for this reason

The next logical question would be, How many seniors are moving to 55+ communities much like here at SaddleBrooke Ranch?

Active adult communities are not much different than any other residential communities, aside from the age requirements, but what sets them apart is they are designed for a retirement-friendly lifestyle with built-in amenities to fill all the needs or wants of a wide array of hobbies, crafts, sports, various restaurant venues, social clubs, etc., such as we have here.

Seniors make up about 18% of the total population today in the U.S. (about 335 million), and this is increasing almost one percentage point per year. If 30% of those seniors are considering a move in 2022, that is a lot of seniors considering moving this year, about 18 million! No wonder new home sales at Robson Communities, and primarily here at SaddleBrooke Ranch, are the highest they have been. Here at SBR, new home sales are averaging about 25 closed sales per month!

This is indicative all over the nation where 55+ community developers are being inundated with seniors looking to buy this year.

The latest poll shows an increasing trend of seniors contemplating moving to the Pacific Northwest or mountain regions. That’s news to us here at SaddleBrooke, as the top two to four states where retirees are coming from are Oregon, Washington, and Colorado.

Here are the trending states for 2022 for the senior migration (in numerical order):

* New Mexico

* Florida

* Arizona

* South Carolina

* Idaho

* Maine

* Vermont

* Nevada

* Wyoming

* Montana

Douglas Sedam is the owner/broker of SBRanchRealty and can be reached at 520-829-5219, #1. @