Baby Boomers Blamed for Housing Shortages Have Few Options: Experts

‘It’s misplaced blame on a group that has decided to stay in their homes. Where are they going to go?’ one expert said.

A neighborhood of single-family homes in Los Angeles on July 30, 2021. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

High home prices, high mortgage rates, and a lack of housing inventory continue to deter those wanting to buy homes in 2024. At the top of the logjam is the baby-boom generation (those born between 1946 and 1964). Many argue that the boomers are exacerbating the inventory shortage because they won’t move.

According to real estate referral company Clever, while 61 percent of the baby boomers they surveyed currently own homes, more than half of them (54 percent) have no plans to sell. They also report that they expect to spend the rest of their lives in their current homes.