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Baby boomers will play a major role in the recovery of a strong home selling market and home improvement market.

As baby boomers relocate or downsize in retirement, they will release a large amount of housing onto the market, it was noted in a special report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

Older homeowners (age 55 and older) accounted for about one-third of housing turnover in the U.S. between 1997 and 2007, and this share will increase as the large baby boom generation continues to age into their retirement years. This inevitable turnover of housing units will have considerable implications for home improvement spending as the new occupants update or reconfigure homes to fit their needs.

This housing turnover by the baby boomer generation might lend insight into the housing and home improvement markets over the next two decades, according to the Joint Center. The experience of these older residents provides insight into the characteristics of housing likely to turn over.

Older sellers generally live in their home for many years and sell relatively older housing stock to much younger buyers, which generates significant levels of home improvement spending after the sale. Yet a declining mobility rate in recent years also suggests more baby boomers may choose to stay in their homes and age in place.

The housing choices made by boomers will play a significant role in home improvement spending in the years ahead, the Joint Center reasoned.

Jim Woodard writes for Creators Syndicate, creators.com.