Is it a good idea to downsize your home?
Mar 21, 2024
Four in 10 over-65s live in a home that is larger than they need according to recent research by Zoopla. Which the property portal claims is preventing young people from getting onto the property ladder. Zoopla says this equates to 2.6 million homes in the UK that are being under-utilised and may be better suited to young families and first-time buyers.
The research also found that nine in ten homeowners over 65 either lived alone or just with their partner, yet more than seven in ten lived in homes with three bedrooms or more.
EMPTY ROOMS
Older homeowners have a collective 10 million spare bedrooms between them, the research has suggested. Nine in ten of those surveyed say they have at least one spare bedroom and half have two or more. A quarter of those surveyed say that they have other rooms in their home - such as dining rooms or reception rooms - that go unused most of the year.
NOSTALGIA AND STRESS OF MOVING PUTS PEOPLE OFF
The research also demonstrated that on average, homeowners over 65 have lived in their home for over a quarter of a century and to move elsewhere would require a major upheaval, both in terms of physical and emotional baggage.
Zoopla found that a quarter of people plan to remain in their home so their family can inherit it - meaning their own children or grandchildren are less likely to have trouble finding a family-sized home in the future.
Downsizers need more than encouragement to help them downsize, according to Paula Higgins, the founder of Homeowners Alliance. 'One of the biggest reasons why older people don't move is the lack of suitable housing,' says Higgins.
Bungalows are in short supply and are super expensive compared to other types of housing. The leasehold and cladding crisis around flats doesn't help either."
NO FINANCIAL INCENTIVE
There is little financial motivation at present for downsizing. Taxes such as stamp duty mean downsizing will often come with an added upfront costs such as estate agent fees, legal fees, surveyor costs and removal firms. 'The costs of moving can be overwhelming as one of the key reasons to move home is to release cash."
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Downsizers can be hit twice as they will need to cover the cost of selling a larger property and this will incur estate agent fees of around 1.5 per cent of the price of the home. They will also need to pay stamp duty on the property they are buying which start at 5 per cent for any property above £250,000 rising to 12% depending on the value of the home, and 15% on a second or additional property.
