How Much Boomers Expect To Profit Off Their Home Sales vs. Other Generations
Written by
G. Brian Davis
Edited by
Daria Uhlig
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More than half (54%) of boomers never plan to sell their current homes — they plan to age in place and die owning them. And just 15% of boomer homeowners plan to sell within the next five years. Those are the findings of a 2024 study of baby boomers in the housing market by Clever Real Estate, and they could signal thinner inventory than many would-be Gen Z and millennial homebuyers have expected from the so-called “silver tsunami” of real estate transfers.
The study also revealed that those boomers who do plan to sell expect huge profits from their homes.
Expected Boomer Home Profits
Around two-thirds (65%) of boomers expect to walk away with at least $100,000 in profits upon selling their homes. That’s after real estate agent commissions, transfer taxes and other closing costs.
Twenty-four percent expect $100,000 to $199,999 in profits; 15% expect $200,000 to $299,999; 9% expect to walk away with $300,000 to $399,999; and 6% expect $400,000 to $499,999 in profits. Fully 10% expect to sail into the sunset with a cool half million or higher.
It Helps To Buy Low
Almost two-thirds (64%) of boomers bought their houses for under $100,000.
In fact, over a third (34%) bought their homes for under $50,000. Only 12% of boomer homeowners spent $200,000 or more to buy their homes.
For younger house hunters, that sounds like mythology, or at least like some long-extinct creature. Today’s median home sells for $412,300, according to the Federal Reserve.
In another throwback to a seemingly bygone era, fewer than half (47%) of boomers required second household incomes in order to buy. That notion seems almost quaint in today’s housing market.
Boomers Blame Millennials for the Affordable Housing Crisis
Only 26% of boomers blame themselves for today’s housing affordability challenges. Instead, they blame millennials more than any other generation (32%), followed by Gen X and Gen Z.
To be fair, most boomers bought decades ago — look no further than what most of them paid for their homes.
Younger Homeowners Don’t Have It So Bad, Either
Make no mistake, between high home prices and high interest rates, 2024 has proven a difficult year to buy your first home.
But existing homeowners who bought even a few years ago are sitting pretty, no matter how they complain at cocktail parties. An analysis of Case Shiller housing data by ResiClub showed that between 2020 and Februrary 2024, U.S. home prices rose a dizzying 47.1%. That’s more in four years than home prices grew in the entire decade of the 2010s.
Throughout the entire 1990s — when many boomers had just bought their first homes — real estate prices only rose 30.1%.
So yes, boomers enjoy hearty home equity. But younger homeowners who bought before or early in the pandemic have also benefited from an unusually strong housing performance, and many already have six figures in home equity.
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