The housing market has been in bad shape for five years now, and there are many indications that things aren’t going to get better anytime soon.
Some market observers argue that things could get worse, because of a major demographic shift under way.
The oldest of the baby boomers — the generation of 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — have already turned 65. As the generation continues to age, some warn that there won’t be enough Americans around of working age to buy all their houses.
“Older people are a ticking time bomb for the housing market,” says Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California. “What we’ve gone through recently could be nothing compared to what we have five years from now. When the boomers start to sell off their houses, there are going to be too many boomers and not enough buyers.”
