As we look ahead at the ever-evolving real estate landscape, one sector stands out for its remarkable endurance and future promise: senior housing. From the outside, it might appear that senior housing’s momentum is tied primarily to the baby boomer generation, already 75 and soon to be 80. Yet the “boomer wave” is only one chapter of a much longer, more profound story as America’s 80-and-older population grows at an unprecedented pace. This boom will not only outlast the boomer cohort; the millennial cohort itself will also eventually age into enormous demand. As a result, the demographic tailwinds driving senior housing will persist beyond 2100, positioning the sector as an enduring, need-driven and highly attractive investment opportunity.
A structural demographic shift
In the near term, the first baby boomers will turn 80 in 2025 and 85 in 2030. By that date, the overall population aged 80-plus is projected to reach 24 million, a leap of m