The senior population in Maryland is steadily increasing to what will be an all-time high in the next few decades, according to federal and state projections. And developers are gearing up for the boom.

New housing communities — some for residents 55 and up, and others for the 62-and-older crowd — are popping up with features and amenities tailored for its target homebuyers.

Residents began settling into Victoria Falls near the end of 2004. The age-restricted neighborhood of 350 homes and 250 condominiums will be under construction until 2008. Fort Washington’s 150-unit Chestnut Oaks condominium complex for moderate-income residents older than 61 is set to open in the spring.

One of every five homebuyers is 55 and older, according to a report by the National Association of Home Builders released in February. The association speculates that 55-plus communities are capturing about 30 percent of that market.

According to ‘‘The Elderly Population in Maryland” report from the state Department of Planning in 2003, about 11 percent of Marylanders were 65 or older. From 2000 to 2030, that number is expected to increase by 122 percent, or 729,000.

The under-65 population is expected to grow by only 336,000 in that same time period, the report said.

One of the traditional reasons builders have been attracted to the active adult segment is that many older buyers can finance purchases from accumulated wealth, rather than from current income, according to research from the homebuilders association.

Fewer than 50 percent of buyers moving into new active adult homes needed to take out a mortgage, the report said. For those who did, the loan-to-value ratio was less than 50 percent.

Most seniorsown their home

In Maryland, 77 percent of seniors own their own home, and many have lived in the same home for 30 to 40 years, said Ilene Rosenthal, chief of housing services at the state Department of Aging.

This indicates they are living in older homes that were not designed for occupants who may become immobile, she said.

These homes lack important elements for seniors and people with disabilities, such as a master bedroom, bathroom and laundry room on the first floor, Rosenthal said.

Older homeowners tend to be on a fixed income and retired, Rosenthal said, so their ability to make home improvements and pay for routine repair is more limited.

Most seniors want to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives, but ‘‘increasingly, seniors are not staying,” Rosenthal said.

In housing communities tailored for seniors, residents find elevators in multi-story buildings, a number of units for people with disabilities, wider doorways and larger bathrooms for wheelchair access, and shower stalls instead of bathtubs, Rosenthal said.

Active adult communities constitute the fastest-growing segment of senior housing, with the average buyer around 66 years old, according to Rosenthal’s 2007 report on housing options in the state for seniors and people with disabilities. The vast majority of people who purchase homes in active adult communities are not retired and have no imminent plans to retire, the report said.

These communities are usually designed for people interested in downsizing because their children are grown and live on their own, Rosenthal said. Also, these older adults may still be working, and want to spend less time shoveling snow and landscaping and more time on leisure, she said.

Building for aburgeoning market

The projected value of age-restricted active adult housing to be built in 2007 is $7.3 billion, according to a report from the homebuilders association.

This year, builders will begin construction on an estimated 145,000 new homes in 55-plus communities, the report said. The average value of those homes is about $350,000.

Developer William T. Slenker, owner of Slenker Communities of Springfield, Va., caught on quickly to the appeal of these adult-oriented communities.

Slenker Communities trademarked its Central Parke 55-plus communities in 2001. It had actually begun building for the older market in 1995, Slenker said, ‘‘knowing full well the burgeoning demographics of the baby boomers were on their way.”

The company’s first 55-plus community was a 25 percent portion of a larger development in Anne Arundel County built in the late 1990s, he said. The units were popular and sold quickly.

‘‘That’s what encouraged us to form the larger company,” he said.

In 2006, the homebuilders association’s 50+ Housing Council named Central Parke at Victoria Falls the Best Overall Midsize Active Adult Community.

Chestnut Oaks in Fort Washington is builder Martin Poretsky’s first project for seniors. Poretsky, who has built about 3,000 homes in more than 30 years, said he wanted to address an unmet need with an affordable housing development.

The condo residents can take advantage of a plethora of amenities, from a fitness center with trainers and classes tailored to seniors, to a community recreation center with a billiards room, arts and crafts, a furnished lounge and game room, and a 30-seat movie theater.

‘‘It’s really a self-contained community in one building,” Poretsky said in a previous interview with The Gazette.

At Leisure World in Silver Spring, a 55-plus community started in 1966, a 48-unit building remains to be constructed, said general manager Kevin Flannery. About 8,500 people live on the 610-acre campus, which has its own 35,000-square-foot medical center.

Slenker said his company has been looking into other opportunities to build in the Washington-Baltimore corridor. The developer hopes to have another community in the area to dovetail with Victoria Falls in three years, he said.

Although the real estate market slowed and sales went down in 2006, it was not nearly as slow as other markets or family-oriented housing, Slenker said.

‘‘The 55-plus housing generally sells better in the down real estate cycles,” he said.