Investor Insight:

Homebuyers’ and renters’ lifestyle preferences are changing, and health-conscious amenities may add value to a property in a residential development.


According to information released at the Urban Land Institute (ULI)’s spring meeting last week, younger generations of Americans will likely live briefer lives than their parents. This is the first time in U.S. history that such a change in life-expectency has occurred. “In the U.S., our children’s generation, my children’s generation, will be the first…to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents, and the reason for that is the epidemic of diabetes, obesity, and chronic disease among our children,” observed Joanna Frank, president and CEO of the Center for Active Design, at the conference.

Frank and many other experts in urban design spoke at the meeting about ways in which residential development might counter this troubling trend. They cited renter and homebuyer preferences for “communities that promote health.” While this might sound like a call for more athletic training facilities or local gyms, in reality, households prefer developments with more organic healthy options, like walking and biking trails and a wider proliferation of sidewalks. For example, according to a survey from McGraw Hill, 71 percent of renters said that that they would prefer living in a community with these options, but only 16 percent of developers said they are currently factoring these preferences into their developments’ design.

Frank emphasized the onus is not purely on the developer. City planners could put “more priority on parks with extensive trail networks,” she suggested, or make a point of supporting the use of “paints with low levels of volatile organic compounds” and commercial developments that provide “greater fresh-food access.”

At present, Fannie Mae already offers a 15-basis point reduction on new construction and rehabilitation loans for projects that meet the requirements for a government-created “health-minded construction” certification called Fitwel. The certification measures and rates how well a building “promotes physical activity and healthy lifestyle choices.”

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  • Carole VanSickle Ellis

    Carole VanSickle Ellis serves as the news editor and COO of Self-Directed Investor (SDI) Society, a membership organization dedicated to the needs of self-directed investors interested in alternative investment vehicles, including real estate. Learn more at SelfDirected.org or reach Carole directly by emailing Carole@selfdirected.org.

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