Builders Target Empty Nesters with Luxury Amenities

Home builders scrambling to serve the huge number of empty nesters looking for active, low-maintenance lifestyles are developing communities that reach far beyond the traditional retirement village.

As people live longer and maintain healthier lifestyles, their interests reach far beyond shuffleboard and bocce ball. Indeed, “active adult” has replaced “retirement” as the buzzword for communities catering to empty nesters.

“Active adult buyers more often are choosing homes that embrace entire family gatherings, with all the bells and whistles, lifestyle choices of low or no maintenance, and plenty of opportunities for socialization,” design and marketing consultant Rebecca Stahr wrote in 50+ Housing Magazine
Stahr, president of the Atlanta-based LifeSpring Environs Inc., says that many empty nesters are interested in neighborhoods geared toward active adults, but not necessarily restricted to older buyers. They are more likely to buy when given more activity choices “that provide vitality and fulfillment,” she wrote.

“Developments rich in multiple offerings fare better than the one-size-fits-all larger developments that were popular in the past,” Stahr wrote. “Builders should provide indulgence and quality that allow active adults’ own uniqueness to evolve.”

That means more communities offering hiking and biking trails, community centers offering a variety of classes and activities, and extensive recreation facilities including indoor and outdoor pools and fitness centers.

There are also economic reasons for developing empty-nester neighborhoods with hiking trails instead of golf courses, says Robert Tippets, chairman of the National Association of Homebuilders’ 50+ Council. Land and construction prices are driving costs up, and hiking trails and other open recreation space are not only highly desirable to buyers but less expensive to build and operate.

Because buyers are interested in luxury-resort amenities, “the trend is to find more efficient ways to do that,” he says. For example, rather than building a private golf course, Tippets says he tries to locate his developments next to a public golf course.

Meanwhile, the average size of homes in empty-nester communities is growing. Tippets says the typical buyer is no longer interested in homes of 1,200 to 1,300 square feet; 1,500 to 1,800 square feet on the main floor is more typical in his Salt Lake City-area neighborhoods. Boomers want large master bedrooms and walk-in closets, open living areas and extra rooms for visiting children and grandchildren, he says.

Today’s active-adult communities are increasingly being built outside the Sunbelt to serve people who want to stay near their family, friends, churches and familiar cultural amenities, Tippets says.

Most also are a fraction of the size of the huge 5,000-home retirement communities of the past, Tippets says, with 500 to 2,000-home developments more typical. Suburban infill developments of 20 to 200 empty-nester homes also are popping up, he says.

Some communities promote amenities including spas and theaters. Others boast of bowling alleys and billiards rooms, computer labs and woodworking shops. You can find communities offering access to orchards, community gardens and shopping and dining in a “Main Street”-type setting.

Developers also are beginning to build communities where some neighborhoods are age-restricted and others aren’t, bringing more diversity to the development.