If you think the housing crunch was rough, just try to sell a cemetery plot these days. Why? There is a surplus of sites, people are selling them for needed cash, and there may be less demand.
USA Today reported on the weak market for plots:
“The demand for cemetery plots and mausoleums is lower than it has been in years and it’s a buyer’s market, says Robert Fells, attorney for the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association in Sterling, Va. The group represents more than 7,400 cemeteries, funeral homes, crematoriums and other death care service providers in the USA.
“Though no industrywide statistics are available about the glut of cemetery plots, Fells says there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence.
” ‘People are buying less burial property,’ he said. ‘There’s a growing surplus.’ “
Ministers tell me they see a lot more ceremonies these days in which people spread their loved one’s ashes in various places rather than burying their bodies in a cemetery. USA Today backed that up:
