Although those nearing retirement did suffer losses from the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, most of the losses were in housing wealth, according to a new report by the University of Michigan Retirement Research Center.

Using asset and labor market data from the Health and Retirement Study, the organization examined the population that was just reaching retirement age when the recession hit, those aged 53 to 58 in 2006. This age group has had little time to recover losses from the recession before retiring.

The organization found that there have been adverse effects on this group, with an average real wealth decline of 2.8 percent between 2006 and 2010. The sharpest decline was in net housing wealth, which fell 23 percent.