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Parade of Homes targets baby boomers

High-end houses currently being built for summer event

By Cami Joner
Published: April 11, 2011, 12:00am
2 Photos
Countertops made of recycled materials were used in a parade of homes display house in 2009, built by New Tradition Homes in Ridgefield.
Countertops made of recycled materials were used in a parade of homes display house in 2009, built by New Tradition Homes in Ridgefield. Photo Gallery

Suddenly, baby boomers are the housing market’s most important demographic, and Clark County builders are zeroing in on them for this year’s premier showcase of homes.

The work is just getting started on the annual Clark County Parade of Homes, which will take place July 22 through Aug. 7, with six custom houses being built in Vancouver’s Felida-area Moongate subdivision. Baby boomers, the post-World War II generation born between 1946 and 1964, are the show’s target buyers. It features elegant, move-up homes priced at $500,000 and above and suitable for retirement living, said Brent Kalliainen, project manager for Ridgefield-based Cascade West Development Inc.

Baby boomers and retirees want comfort and style, which is why Cascade West plans to incorporate luxurious finishes into its two Parade of Homes entries, he said. Materials include travertine tile, granite counter tops and gas-generated systems to heat the four-bedroom homes.

“We’re doing all one-level living and its all set up to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant,” Kalliainen said of the 3,000- to 4,000-square-foot houses.

Increased income

Baby boomers have more discretionary income than any other age group and control 70 percent of the total net worth — $7 trillion — of American households.

That’s why builders are pursuing the age group, said Ryan Zygar, president of Vancouver-based Tamerack Homes, which developed Moongate and will showcase one house at this year’s event.

“All the houses we built last year were sold to baby boomers, except two,” said Zygar, a custom builder whose company built six houses last year.

About 72 million baby boomers live in the United States, the U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2009.

Zygar expects Clark County’s market for new homes to improve during the spring buying season. However, the total number of new homes sold could be down compared to last year’s sales, which were fueled by the 2010 federal homebuyer’s tax credit. The credit gave first-time and move-up homebuyers incentives of between $6,500 and $8,000 if the sale closed by the end of June 2010.

Zygar said about half of this year’s high-end Parade of Homes houses have already been sold.

He predicted more than 630 workers would be employed building houses for this year’s Parade of Homes.

“There are buyers in the market who want to buy homes and I think that’s really good,” he said.

However, building numbers issued by the county give few signs of the local homebuilding market’s recovery.

In March, builders took out 40 permits to build single-family homes in unincorporated Clark County, down 60.4 percent from the 101 permits handed out in the same month last year. So far this year, the county has issued 68 permits for new-home construction, compared with 328 permits handed out during the same period in 2007.

The Parade of Homes is put on by the Building Industry Association of Clark County. Also building houses this year are Axiom Custom Homes, Bella Villa Homes and NW Classic Homes.

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