6 November 28, 2021The Sunday Times
Home
W
hen we reach the end
of our housing story,
downsizing is meant to
be the happy ever after.
The children have
flown the nest and the parents are ready
to sell up for something smaller and
easier to feather.
Yet Chris Pincher, the housing minister,
said earlier this month that he thinks too
many older homeowners are still “rattling
around” in “too big” properties that could
be bought by younger buyers in desperate
need of family homes.
Part of the problem, Pincher
continued, is that developers aren’t
building enough of the type of homes that
older homeowners want to move into.
“Over the past ten years we’ve seen just
75,377 specialist homes for older people
built, but the Office for National Statistics
expects the population aged over 85 to
grow by half a million by 2031,” says
Lawrence Bowles, senior analyst in the
residential research team of Savills estate
agency. “We’re not providing enough
homes to meet existing need, let alone
accounting for growth.”
Analysis of home moves by the
over-60s since 2019 by Savills shows that
the majority (59 per cent) of sellers in this
age bracket are moving to a smaller
property, compared with 39 per cent of
younger movers. Older downsizers
moved to a property that was 30 per cent
smaller than their previous one and
20 per cent cheaper on average.
Yet the term downsizing can be
misleading. It gives the impression that
many of these movers are swapping
a six-bedroom family house in the country
for a one-bedroom apartment in a
retirement village. In reality they still
want a bedroom or two to spare.
Retirement housing providers report
that three-bedroom apartments are
regularly the first to sell out. Since the
1990s, under-occupation — typically
having two or more spare bedrooms
— has increased from 42 per cent of
homeowners to 52 per cent according to
the English Housing Survey.
The downsizing myth is backed up by
Savills’ research. “While these older
households are downsizing, they’re not
getting more house for their money,”
Bowles says. “Just over half (51 per cent)
moved to a property that was worth
more per square foot — similar to
younger households.”
This is especially true of those moving
from period properties to new-builds,
which are often sold at a premium and
can come with hefty service charges.
These tend to be attractive to downsizers
who are less concerned with equity
release and focused on finding something
more manageable to live in.
Andrea Robertson, 61, and her
husband, Dennis, 73, moved from Cults,
on the outskirts of Aberdeen, to
Hazelwood, a development four miles
away. They traded their three-bedroom
period house for a new two-bedroomDIE-HARDS WHO WON’T
DOWNSIZE
Older homeowners
are being urged
by ministers to
downsize — but
they are addicted to
their spare rooms.
By Melissa York
VICKI COUCHMAN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES; CALLUM MCGREGOR CHAPMAN