Only 16% of NAHB builder members reported building age-restricted housing for people age 55 or older, according to 2025 Member Census. Even though it is down one percentage point from the previous year, this share has remained within a narrow band (15%-17%) since this question was introduced in the survey in 2009.
The likelihood of building age-restricted housing generally increases with the size of the company. Among builders with fewer than 100 starts in 2025, less than 20% build this type of housing, compared to 36% among those with 100+ starts. Additionally, there is some variation by the builder’s primary business activity. Fifty-two percent of those who manufacture modular/panelized/log home build age-restricted housing, compared to 17% of single-family builders and 29% of multifamily builders. In 2025, 47,000 housing units were started in age-restricted communities, which is up over 9% from the previous year.
In 20231, there were 25,849,000 households with a person 55 or over. Of these, 15% reported living in age-restricted communities (a record high since the inception of the series in 2015) and another 23% in communities where most neighbors are 55+.
The median age of homes for households with a person 55 or over in 2023 is 37.8 years, up 1.5 years from 2021 and nearly five years older than in 2015. When analyzing senior citizen communities by year home was built, 3.4% were built in 2020 or later while 25.6% were built before 1970. When compared to the overall housing stock (median age: 42 years), the median age for homes within senior citizen communities is approximately four years lower, mainly due to a lower share of homes built before 1970 and not necessarily due to a large increase in recent production (i.e., built 2020 or later).
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