The "silver tsunami" of aging Americans is often seen as a potential way to alleviate the country's housing affordability woes. However, the data suggests that an influx of empty-nester homes coming on the market won't have much of an impact on the problem—because of a geographical mismatch.
Today on the show, we speak to an economist who's looked into the silver tsunami's impact on the housing market and thinks this theory might be more of a red herring.
This episode was fact checked by Sierra Juarez
Related episodes:
The graying of AmericaWhat would it take to fix retirement?How big is the US housing shortage?The highs and lows of US rentsFor sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
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