While spring may have already sprung in the southern tier of the country, the upper half still has some time before outdoor construction projects start!  We’ve long discussed landscapers, gardeners, garden centers, pool/spa contractors and more as being excellent prospects for underwriting partners on our stations.  

Here’s some good prospecting information from today’s RAB e-newsletter for your local landscape architects.  Increasingly popular are outdoor kitchens (perfect for public radio foodies!), along with fire pits/fireplaces and outdoor living/dining rooms.  When you add the uptick in requests for water elements, plus the desire for backyard gardening/farming (don’t forget those
designer chicken coops!), you have a strong prospect for spring/summer business.

Consumers Digging into Bigger Outdoor Projects 
While spring is typically the busiest time of year for gardening and landscaping projects, experts are predicting a particularly abundant sales crop, powered by recovering real-estate sales. 

Outdoor living spaces will be on the top of many lists, according to a trend forecast from the American Society of Landscape Architects, as will designs focused on sustainability and low-maintenance. These outdoor living spaces -- defined as kitchens and entertainment areas -- earned a 94.5% rating, making them just as popular as gardens or landscaped spaces. And people want these rooms filled with such amenities as fire pits and fireplaces, grills, seating and dining areas and lighting. 

"Business definitely seems to be picking up," Ted Cleary, a member of the association and owner of Studio Cleary
Landscape Architecture in Charlotte, N.C., told Marketing Daily, "even over and above the typical spring bump. Over the last few years, we were seeing more customers back out of projects because of financial concerns. There seems to be more equilibrium now."

Water elements are also making a bit of a comeback -- not just as features in landscapes, but also in terms of spas and pools. And in keeping with the local food movement, the survey also reports more people are asking for food and
vegetable gardens, including orchards and vineyards.

Cleary also believes the recent real-estate slump has reset people's relationship with their homes. "There's definitely a lot more thought going into projects, and less of this frantic 'Let's fix this place up and move on.' I'm hearing more people say, 'We could be in this house for a while. Let's make the yard more suitable for what we want long-term.'"

A stronger real-estate market drives gardening and landscaping sales at such stores as Home Depot and Lowe's. In the latest analysis from CoreLogic, January's home sale price index rose 9.7% from the prior year -- the biggest increase since 2006, and the 11th consecutive month of gains.  Last month, Home Depot reported a quarterly gain of 7% in same-store sales, and expects sales for the year ahead to climb 3%. At rival Lowe's, same-store sales rose 1.9%, and it predicts a gain of 3.5% in the coming year.

 (Source: Marketing Daily, 03/18/13

Adding to the information from RAB on senior housing – it seems that buyers over 55 are the hottest segment of the housing market.  In fact, one builder says that “this is the housing segment that’s going to lead us out of recession”.  And as with everything else the Boomers have done, they’re going to do retirement on their own terms.  They’re not interested in the
sprawling retirement communities with multiple golf courses and clubhouses.  Instead, they’re looking for age-restricted properties in the suburbs centered around a fitness-oriented lifestyle.  They’re not interested in downsizing, either.  They have lots of stuff, and they want their big houses in retirement, too.

(Personally, I’ll be looking for a one-story, 2500+ square feet, in a nice neighborhood, preferably with a porch…!)

Hope this results in some good conversations with your realtors!
jc

Builders Hope to Lure Boomers and Seniors as Home Values Rebound
From RAB's "Radio Sales Today" 2/19/13
Seniors who have been itching to trade the old home place for some new digs may get the chance now that the housing market is recovering. 

At least that's what builders hope. 

They are ready to build a new generation of housing aimed at seniors and aging baby boomers -- not the huge retirement golf course developments of yesteryear, but smaller, age-restricted suburban subdivisions.  During the economic crash, many of these potential buyers put their plans on hold when their houses wouldn't sell or they lost equity.  But with housing values on the rebound, homebuilders are sharpening their marketing efforts aimed at buyers over 55.

"We think this is the housing segment that is going to lead us out of recession," Don Whyte, a Utah builder, said recently at the housing industry's annual meeting in Las Vegas.  "We are seeing the traffic from these buyers is up, and shoppers are coming around looking at houses again," he said.

The National Association of Home Builders is predicting an almost 25 percent increase in home starts this year for properties targeted at 55-plus buyers. And next year, construction for this market will jump almost a third.   "This is a growing share of the market, just in terms of the underlying demographics," said Paul Emrath, an economics researcher with the builders
association.  Currently, about 42 percent of U.S. households are made up of 55-plus residents. By 2020, that number is forecast to grow to almost 47 percent.

Equity returns
John Sheleimer, a housing researcher from Northern California, said there are 79 million U.S. baby boomers and almost 80 percent already own a home.   "We are the wealthiest consumer segment in the housing market," Sheleimer said. "We have money to buy homes if we can sell our home at what we think it is worth, and that is also improving.  We are starting to see the home equities come back," he said. "We are starting to see people feel they can sell their home and move equity to buy a
new home."

Home starts for 55-plus buyers should total about 150,000 units this year, the builders predict.  The recession froze sales of homes to seniors in many areas of the country, builders and economists say, and there is pent-up demand.   "We have had a delay of several years where boomers and seniors didn't move," said Bob Karen, a Maryland builder. "In our sales offices, we now see an absolute change in this consumer's behavior.  They are coming in with lots more optimism and not as depressed about selling the homes they have," Karen said.

Now that older buyers are thinking about moving again, builders are trying to figure out what type of housing they want. New research shows that most still want to live in the 'burbs, with few opting for central city locations.

Different priorities
But they are less interested in the huge "retirement" communities that were developed in past decades.  "The days of the mega master-planned community with four clubhouses and 27 golf courses are dead," said Sheleimer.   Instead, the 55-plus buyers are looking at smaller age-restricted subdivisions close to traditional housing. Most of those buyers also aren’t
interested in drastically downscaled housing, Sheleimer said. "Many 50-plus buyers do not want to downsize to 1,500-square-foot or 1,200-square-foot homes," he said. "We have lots of stuff."

 While aging buyers may not want golf courses, that doesn't mean they aren't interested in community amenities. Developers are building walking trails, fitness centers, swimming pools and clubhouses in most of the successful projects.

"The exterior amenities are just as important as the interior," said Andrew Wong of Pulte Homes, one of the country's largest builders of homes for 55-plus buyers. Wong said Pulte's homes aimed at boomers and seniors are as large as 3,000 square feet.  "These buyers might still be working, or they could be retired," he said.

 (Source: The Dallas Morning News, 01/31/13)