Toledo area builder Brian McCarthy isn’t sure when the steady supply of Baby Boomers will run out.
“It’s kind of hard to put a finger on it,” he said with a laugh.
For now, however, there is no end in sight to the 55-and-over crowd of buyers looking to downsize into a maintenance-free, zero lot line, single-story villa home.
The demand for villas, which began accelerating in 2011 when the first of the Baby Boomers hit retirement age, has meant good news for area builders like Mr. McCarthy of McCarthy Builders in Sylvania Township, and others who specialize in that type of home.
Already having constructed well over 500 villas in metro Toledo, most of them at the Villas at Riverbend subdivision in Perrysburg, three months ago Mr. McCarthy began work in Springfield Township on a new project — Fieldbrook — located off of West Bancroft Street.
The first phase will have 28 lots. Altogether the subdivision will have 74 lots.
But demand for the villa lifestyle is so good that Mr. McCarthy has created Fieldbrook with a lower price range.
Many of the villas constructed in metro Toledo and Bedford Township have been in the $200,000 to $300,000 range.
Fieldbrook will go for $165,000 to $200,000, Mr. McCarthy said. The villas are a little smaller — 1,400 square feet compared to 2,000 to 2,500 square feet for a typical villa — but the builder said he doesn’t think that will matter much.
Fourteen hundred square feet “is really all you need when you get down to it,” Mr. McCarthy said.
“The people who want villas are moving from a neighborhood where they may have raised their children and at this point, they want to be with people of similar age and in a nice, quiet neighborhood,” he said.
But they also want maintenance-free living with common services, like lawn mowing and snow removal, done for them.
According to the National Home Builders Association, surveys always show “must haves” in a villa are a laundry room, ceiling fans, a full bath on the main level, energy-efficient rated windows, and energy-efficient rated appliances.
In the Toledo area, buyers of villas mostly want single-story living, water views like a pond or artificial lake, an upgraded kitchen with quartz countertops, a backsplash, and stainless-steel appliances. Also, hard flooring to make cleaning easier.
“A lot of them go into this thinking this’ll be the last home they purchase. So they want to put a lot into it,” Mr. McCarthy said.
Toledoans who want villas have a lot of choices.
Upscale villas are in the $300,000 range and some are as low as $135,000. Projects are located in Whitehouse, Perrysburg, Springfield Township, Maumee, Sylvania Township, and Bedford Township. There are golf community villas and two communities with large lakes that permit pontoon boats.
The home builders’ association does not keep statistics on the growth of the villa-home market. But the share of U.S. households aged 55 and over was 42.5 percent in 2016 and was projected to rise slowly each year and hit 44.5 percent by 2024.
NAHB officials have said it is well known that as people age they’re looking more for a maintenance-free lifestyle. And in every state, more than a third of households are now age 55 or over, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Contact Jon Chavez at jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.
First Published May 20, 2018, 5:24 a.m.
