Why some seniors are choosing to sell their homes and go the rental route

Ingrid Penn is 82 years old, living alone in her house in Taylorsville, but she is now looking to sell her home.

On a recent morning the woman walked around her home explaining the difficulties for a senior to take care of her home by herself. She pointed out the skylights in high ceilings that she isn’t able to maintain, as well as a smoke detector that she wouldn’t be able to reach if it needed to be replaced.

“It’s too expensive to live here by myself. There’s so much work, I always have to hire somebody,” Penn said. “And it’s too big for me.”

She shared that if she sells her Salt Lake Valley house she faces two options: to rent a place or buy a condo. Penn is leaning toward renting because if she buys a condo “it’s my responsibility to fix things.”

Penn added that buying a condo brings the same issues as owning a house, just in a downsized form.

She first moved into the house in 1987 but then moved to California and rented it out. She moved back to Utah in 2022 and started living in the house again after selling her condo in California.

Penn’s desire to leave her home and rent a new place aligns with the findings of a recent report from Point2Homes that found that in the past 10 years more seniors have been renting than in the past.

Study: More seniors have been renting recently across the country

The report, titled “U.S. Seniors Rent Like Never Before: 65+ Age Group Up 2.4 Million Renters in a Decade,” looked at data between 2013 and 2023, comparing the change in number of renters between over those 10 years.

• The report from Point2Homes found that between 2013 and 2023, the number of U.S. seniors ages 65 and older have switched to renting by around 30%.

The report found that between 2013 and 2023, the number of seniors ages 65 and older have switched to renting by around 30%. Senior renters not only increased by a large percentage, they also experienced the highest net growth in renting, 2.4 million more seniors renting over this period.

Only two age groups, 55 to 64 and 65 and older increased in rentership over the 10-year period. The growth of renters ages 55-64 was five times less than those 65 and older.

“They’re choosing to rent for flexibility, downsizing, getting out of a home that has already been paid off, and looking for smaller type of rental, lifestyle reasons,” said Doug Ressler with Yardi-Matrix, a sister company of Point2Homes.

He added that some rent for lifestyle reasons such as wanting to move into a community of people with similar interests in the same age group.

Ressler shared that many seniors want to move into senior living facilities and communities and that is something that Penn is looking for when she moves out of her house.

He also mentioned that when people typically think of renters they think of younger age groups, but that is constantly changing.

“I think that the different demographic age tiers or tranches are adapting to the economic winds and changes that are being put forth in terms of inflation,” Ressler said. “The new conditions today, as they continuously change, and will continue to change, will present different opportunities for folks in terms of housing that they will choose to adjust to.”

What the study says about Utah

The report from Point2Homes looked at the 75 most populated metropolitan areas around the country, including Salt Lake City.

According to the report, Salt Lake City has experienced a significant increase in senior renters, with a growth rate of 51.4% over the 10-year period where data was collected.

Ressler said that this is due to the area seeing “tremendous growth” of smaller homes that are “built to rent.”

When talking about this, Ressler emphasized that seniors don’t want the maintenance of a large home, they want to rent something smaller that can be managed.

What areas around the country are seeing an influx in senior renters?

Florida’s metros lead the country in the amount of senior renters. In North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton seniors make up 21.3% of renters and in Cape Coral-Fort Myers they make up 18.5% of renters.

This solidifies the state’s status “as a destination for later-life living‚” according to Point2Homes’ report.

Florida also has the fastest growth in the number of senior renters, in Jacksonville renters ages 65 and older increased by 80%.

A strong growth of senior renters has also been seen across the Sun Belt region. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana senior renters also increased by 80%.

Ressler said there were some areas that did not experience a large increase in senior renters such as Montana and Idaho. He added that some states in the Northeast lost some population to senior renters moving to the Sun Belt area.

According to Point2Homes, none of the 75 largest metro areas in the U.S. saw a decline in senior renters over the 10-year period.

Seniors are trying to figure out what to do next and where to go

Penn shared that she knows other people in her age group struggle to figure out whether they should sell their homes and where they should move to.

“A lot of people in my position, yeah, don’t know how to move forward. They’re just stuck, and they’re kind of anxious,” she said.

The retired nurse added that her family wants her to keep the house, but also they don’t live in town, so she is left to take care of everything on her own. Her kids want her to rent out the house but she told them if she did that they would have to be responsible because she doesn’t want any of the responsibility for the house anymore.

Penn shared that she has a lot of options on where she can go and what she can do with her money after selling her house, but she’s just trying to figure out what the best option for her is. She confirms that her age plays a big factor in that decision.

She mentioned that one thing she is looking for is moving closer to the Murray Senior Recreation Center since she goes there at least three times a week.

This report doesn’t reflect the needs and wants of all seniors

Rosie Bayne is a realtor who works along the Wasatch Front. She hasn’t seen a big increase in the number of seniors renting recently. She believes that most people want to keep their homes that they own.

“I’m not seeing seniors sell their house, because, you know, the majority of these seniors are boomers. They have owned their home for a really long time, so all they’re paying is property insurance and taxes,” Bayne said.

She did say that she could see some people wanting to sell their primary residence to move into a senior living community, but not super often. Typically, Bayne said, they do this when they aren’t able to do stairs anymore and they have other issues within their house.

Bayne added that she doesn’t often see seniors choosing to move out of a home they own and move into a rental, but mostly do it because it’s their only option.

Another factor that can play into senior housing, Bayne said, is whether or not their kids are involved and are helping them.