The Biggest X-Factor in the Housing Market? Where Baby Boomers Will Choose to Retire

Happy 65th to the estimated 10,000 Baby Boomers who passed the threshold into senior citizen status today. And an early congrats to the 10,000 more who will follow tomorrow. You represent a segment of the population driving a series of radical changes in the way the U.S. looks and works.

That trend of 10,000 freshly minted 65-year-olds a day is expected to continue into 2020, when an estimated one-fifth of the U.S. population will be 65 or over. Many of the resulting changes from this wave of oldness will play out in the housing market, according to a recent presentation from two urban planning experts at the American Planning Association's national conference. One of the key considerations for planners and cities making room for these growing senior populations is that about one-fifth of people over 65 won't be able to drive.