Only 12% of American home-buyers want fringe suburbs

[Aeolus]

An interesting article in the op-ed section of the New York Times today that touches on questions like range and demand vehicles like the LEAF. Big chunks of the population are voting with their pocketbooks for more sustainable neighborhoods. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/opinion/the-death-of-the-fringe-suburb.html?_r=1&hp

Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift — a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered.

The shift is durable and lasting because of a major demographic event: the convergence of the two largest generations in American history, the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the millennials (born between 1979 and 1996), which today represent half of the total population.

Many boomers are now empty nesters and approaching retirement. Generally this means that they will downsize their housing in the near future. Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.

As we shift from an economy based on cheap oil, there are myriad changes that individual consumers make, and none has more impact than where you live and work.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

amen; when looking for a place to move to last Spring, we turned down a "too good to be true" lease purchase option on a 3600 Sq foot home in a small 14 unit development that was 22 miles from town.

apparently, these homes were built to sell, didnt and the developer has been trying to fill them. we went and looked at 1 of the 4 available and it was nice and 50% off the cost of something smaller in town. but we chose to pay $95 a month more and rent a much smaller home in town. but my ROUNDTRIP commute is 11.8 miles and i have no regrets.