Boomers now hold nearly 40% of US housing wealth
With $19 trillion in assets, those 65+ control more real estate equity than any other cohort, and it’s unclear if it will trickle down to younger generations.
If there's one generational group that has greatly benefited from the housing squeeze since the start of the pandemic, it's baby boomers.
Not only have boomer homeowners gained a tremendous amount of home equity in recent years, but a new report from Realtor.com finds that the demographic — typically adults between the ages of 60 and 80 — now control an astounding $19 trillion in housing wealth, or nearly 40% of all real estate assets in the U.S., based on Redfin data.
How the other generations stack up: Trailing baby boomers is the Gen X cohort, which Realtor.com researchers say own over $14 trillion in real estate assets. Millennials own about $9.9 trillion in homes while Gen Z only holds about $4.38 trillion in real estate wealth.
Having seen the most benefit from rising home prices, boomers not only accounted for the biggest share of sellers last year, they overtook millennials as the largest group of buyers, according to NAR's 2025 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends report.
Assets more concentrated in popular retirement destinations: Perhaps unsurprising, five of the top 10 cities where retirees hold the most wealth are in Florida. According to the report, retirees 65 years and older currently make up more than 50% of the homeowners in the affluent cities of North Port, Naples and Cape Coral. Deltona and Port St. Lucie also made the list of places where retirees control the largest share of real estate wealth.
It's estimated that in the North Port-Bradenton metro area, retirees own $97 billion in real estate; in the Naples-Marco Island metro, they own $70 billion, and in Cape Coral, $62 billion. The combined real estate assets of all homeowners over 65 in the top five Florida metros comes out to roughly $310 billion in housing wealth. The report highlights attributes that are desirable to retirees — particularly Florida's warm, sunny weather and lack of state income tax.
Retirees in two California cities — Santa Rosa and Sa Luis Obispo — own a total of about $85 billion worth of homes, accounting for nearly half of the housing stock in each metro.
Will they share the wealth? It's difficult to predict how much of the boomers' current real estate wealth will be passed on to younger cohorts, but Realtor.com researchers estimate that nearly 12,000 people will turn 65 each day for the next two years, and the "silver tsunami" — if there is one — will soon be at its peak.
But retirees may choose to hold on to their wealth. Realtor.com researchers cited a 2024 survey from Charles Schwab that found only 21% of boomer respondents said they "want the next generation to enjoy my money" while they are still alive.
NAR economists have also questioned the likelihood of a great wealth transfer from older generations. At NAR's annual NXT conference last year, Deputy Chief Economist and VP of Research Jessica Lautz provided agent attendees with a tempered forecast of the economy and housing market, suggesting that older homeowners will continue to stay put.
"There is a large amount of young adults who are putting pressure on the housing market and on the rental market," she told the audience in Boston. "They are desperately trying to enter into the market. We need to build more housing for these young adults, because the silver tsunami is not coming — the idea that the silver tsunami will give all of this real estate to young adults, we have to let go of that and we have to just build more homes."