I live in a 4 bed detached house and now DC are adults it's too big and requires too much maintenance, so that's a good reason to downsize.
However, people often talk of downsizing as a way to fund their retirement or help DC with house purchases of their own. I can't make the maths work.
My house is worth about £500k, a not insignificant sum. It's in The South East but in a cheaper part, in the slightly nicer part of a not that nice town.
This "nice" bit doesn't really have smaller houses, for something smaller it would have to be a bungalow, which would cost about the same, possibly more than my current house.
I could move back to where my first house was, a 3 bed terraced ex council house, but that would cost £350k and after costs would raise maybe £100k (?), a lot of money but not a lot to live on for very long, and a significant reduction in quality of life.
Is this kind of downsizing only for people who live in very expensive areas and who are prepared to move a long way from home? Or am I missing something?