Baby Boomers are increasingly advancing into retirement and in the coming decades will begin dying in larger numbers.
That, according to a new report from real estate website Zillow, will bring needed home turnover to the Worcester area and other parts of the county that, without significant new home construction, have been hampered by low home inventory. The expected influx of available homes will bring a substantial boost to the housing supply similar to a construction boom before the Great Recession, according to Zillow.
In broad stretches of the Worcester metropolitan area, more than one in four homes will hit the market by 2037, Zillow data shows.
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In towns west of Worcester, including Holden, Leicester and Spencer, 27.5% of homes will become available once older residents pass away, Zillow said, among the highest rates in Central or Eastern Massachusetts outside Cape Cod and the Islands.
Across northern Central Massachusetts, from Groton to Athol, including Fitchburg and Leominster, the rate will exceed 26%. In the city of Worcester, the rate will be a bit lower at 23.7%. Southern Worcester County will average 24% turnover.
MetroWest has lower rates. Rates were below 23% in a region stretching from Clinton to Shrewsbury to Milford, and 20.4% in the combined area of Framingham, Marlborough and Natick.
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The national average is 27.4%.
Popular retirement hubs in Arizona and Florida, and regions where young residents have left, largely in the Rust Belt, have the highest rates, according to Zillow. The Boston combined statistical area — a geographically broader measure than a metropolitan area, including parts of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island — will average 26.4% turnover. That matches exactly the average of the regions around the country’s largest cities.
