‘Boommates’: Many Baby Boomers are turning to home-sharing to tackle unaffordable housing

Retired homeowners are renting out their extra rooms to younger people amid rising housing costs.

by Alicia Nieves and Urja Sinha | Jul. 01, 2024

File - A housing development in Middlesex Township, Pa., is shown on Oct 12, 2022. On Thursday, the National Association of Realtors releases data for sales of existing homes last month. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

A housing development in Middlesex Township, Pa., is shown on Oct 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Story at a glance

Baby Boomers hitting retirement age are increasingly choosing to remain in their houses amid rising housing costs.

Last year, 75 percent of the country’s housing was considered unaffordable.

Many retired homeowners are renting out their extra rooms to younger people seeking affordable housing.

(NewsNation) — Many Baby Boomers are turning to home-sharing amid high inflation and rising housing costs, marking a rise in what people are calling “boommates.”

Oftentimes, retired homeowners are renting out their extra rooms to younger people seeking affordable housing.

Historically, Americans would buy larger houses while they were raising children and then sell off the big, empty house when the children grew up and moved out. Now, Baby Boomers hitting retirement age are increasingly choosing to remain in their houses as there is little incentive to sell.

For one, they would be competing with record housing prices and scarce inventory. They are also typically locked into a low mortgage rate already, and wouldn’t make financial sense to pick up and leave.

On the flip side, these practices are part of the reason younger generations are struggling to buy homes and choosing to rent from Boomers. Getting a “boommate” is allowing people to pool their resources and maintain housing stability during a national housing crisis.

Internal data from the housing nonprofit Front Porch shows the average income for a housing provider looking to share a home with another roommate is just slightly over $46,000, while the income of an average housing seeker is around $40,000, making it an ideal situation for Boomers to rent the room in their house.

Last year, 75% of the country’s housing was considered unaffordable, according to ATTOM, a real estate data company.

Both homebuyers and renters are facing increasing housing costs that skyrocketed after the pandemic. According to the Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index, home prices increased by 46% between March 2020 and March 2024. A new Treasury analysis shows that over the past two decades, housing costs have been rising faster than incomes.