Retirees and the 'urban convergence'

The New York Times ran a on the changing preference of retirees — away from distant Sunbelt retirement developments and more toward real communities. As we have predicted at Better! Cities & Towns, The Times article says Baby Boomers will largely choose to retire in place or move to urban centers in the city or suburbs. To the extent that Boomers retire in place, they will benefit from changes that make the suburbs more walkable and diverse. Those that move will contribute to the "urban demographic convergence" that will dominate the real estate market for the next two decades. “Young people and old people are sharing some of the same values about neighborhood living,” Armando Carbonell, chairman of planning and urban form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a research group in Cambridge, MA, told The Times. “They share preferences in housing that are showing up in the market. It is a kind of living that is more central city, smaller units for smaller households.”

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