A growing number of retirees are bucking the downsizing trend and are opting to upsize instead. They may be motivated to find a larger home to accommodate a live-in parent or visiting family members or because a larger home is simply what they prefer.
“People who choose to upsize in retirement often do so when relocating to a more climate-friendly area, such as Florida or Arizona,” Cara Ameer, a real estate professional with Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty in Jacksonville, Fla., told Next Avenue, a digital publication produced by PBS that is geared to baby boomers. “Many times, they want to find their ‘dream home’ and feel it is time to make that happen. They don’t want to sacrifice on location, finishes, and most importantly, a view.”
Susan Landau Abrams of Warburg Realty told Next Avenue that she has been part of several transactions where empty-nest clients moved from a three-bedroom apartment to a four- or five-bedroom one. “They are at the pinnacle of their success and want to enjoy life and live graciously,” she says. “They want spacious master bedrooms, his and her master bathrooms, an office/library, and a chef’s kitchen.”
Some empty nesters in their 60s are relocating from the suburbs to the city, Next Avenue reports. “I’ve seen a lot of baby boomers coming back into the city and spending more money on residences than they made selling their houses in the suburbs,” Michael J. Franco, a real estate broker with Compass in New York, told Next Avenue.
But upsizing isn’t for everyone in their 50s and 60s. A survey conducted in April by Del Webb, a builder of active adult communities, found that 43% prefer their next home to be the same size as their current one; 22% of those respondents said they want a bigger home.
Source: “Upsizing in Retirement: Going Against the Grain,” NextAvenue.org (Nov. 7, 2019)
