Housing woes dashing retirement plans of many
We all know it’s a terrible housing market. But did you know that the market is so rough it’s forcing many homeowners to dealy their retirements?
Reporter Jennifer Levitz, for the Wall Street Journal’s online edition, wrote a story earlier this week exploring this trend. According to the story, the number of older residents in the work force is steadily increasing. You can read the complete story here.
Apparently, as their homes lose value, older residents feel less comfortable retiring, even if they don’t plan on selling their homes.
Here’s even more evidence that this housing slump is more serious than many of the other downturns the industry has experienced. This one is having serious, long-term consequences. Let’s hope we’ve learned our lessons: It’s never good to have housing prices inflate as quickly — some would say as artificially, too – as they did during the housing boom. The reason? It makes it that much more painful when prices return to a more realistic level.
Tags: older workers, Retirement, senior citizens, Wall Street JournalRelated Stories
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2 opinions for Housing woes dashing retirement plans of many
Bob Turek
Apr 5, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Dan- the way I look at it is the latest run up was artificial but my home still is worth more. I just have to wait for the market to come back to be more confident of my home’s value and the chance of selling it. My feeling is that the recent downturn inordinately affected the lower end of the market. What do you think?
Dan
Apr 5, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Hi, Bob:
Thanks for your message. You’re approaching this housing mess from the right perspective. If you don’t have to sell anytime soon, it doesn’t really matter what your house is worth now. If you can ride out the slump before having to sell, you should still be in great shape. Despite the terrible housing market we are seeing now, I still think residential real estate is a solid investment. Just don’t expect housing prices to appreciate in double-digits every year — That rate of appreciation was an artificial one.
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