To wonder how many people are relying on their house as a pension

[Kudja]

I live in the Home Counties where house prices are nuts. We (probably naively) do think of our house as a bit of a pension pot and expect that we will have to downsize to release equity in retirement. I’m wondering how many others are thinking this way too - and if there will be a decrease in house prices in 20-30years time as we all scrabble to downsize?!

Me. I live in a stupidly expensive area and my favourite part of the country is much cheaper, so, yes, it's my pension

We have more bedrooms than we’ll need once the kids leave home. I have every intention of downsizing - nice cottage by the sea, basic, with a log burner and small patio. Less cleaning and stuff the better.

Nope, downsizing & the costs involved won't release much cash for me..

Partly, yes, we live in an expensive area, planning to move away and downsize. We have sensible pensions alongside though

No.

We had a big house until a few years ago. We downsized from a large 5 bed to a much smaller 2 bed with a smaller garden. Mortgage was paid off and we had enough equity left to buy a small rental property. Add that to our pensions and savings means we are now able to retire early.
(I just have)

Yea mine is my only decent source of income so once the DCs move out I will have to sell and downsize to live. Won’t provide a pension as such, but will hopefully mean I can live mortgage/rent free and just have to earn enough to live on apart from that. On my low salary, once the CMS and Tax credits end I’ll have to live very frugally but as a SAHM for many years, working for myself and not paying into a pension, I’m a bit fucked tbh.

No. I have pensions.

I know people who have drastically underestimated how much cash you actually need for a pension. I.e a couple with a 500k house to provide x 2 people with pensions, doesnt leave much cash to downsize at all.

Loads of people which I think is a problem, houses are expected to fund social care, retirement, help dc onto ladder. I'm not sure how sustainable it is. I read that equity release is becoming bigger & bigger

Yes and no. Quite a large, detached house in the Home Counties comuter belt and catchment of a great set of great schools. Price is just stupid now IMO. Sometimes I think we'll downsize soon (in about 7 years), simply not have mortgage and live the life of Riley, or alternatively downsize and bank a couple of hundred grand towards our pensions. So maybe!

*commuter. Autocorrected to computer and hadn't manually-corrected it enough!

Yes weve done this - moved from home counties to suffolk - wonderful!

We'll downsize, however the equity we release will most likely go to the DC to help them get on the ladder. I don't expect much to be left over for our pensions. I'm hoping we can live frugally in retirement!

No, because we live in a flat and never upsized. But I have a pension so not overly concerned, although DH doesn't have a pension so it's mine to cover the costs of both of us.

I have a pension and live my house so have no plans to sell up.

I would have assumed most people living in high value homes are paying into a pension though? Most jobs come with them.

downsizing might free up some cash - but for most people would it be enough to fund twenty plus years?

What @ChampagneCommunist said.
I live in London, currently with approx £460k equity in my house.
In 7 years, we’ll move to a much cheaper area, and will have a lot more equity.
of course, house prices in the cheaper area could rocket, but I’m hoping for at least £200k to add to my pension.

A kind of yes/no. No to downsizing - it’s only a mid terrace two up/down. But might be able to make some cash from either renting the spare room or renting the garage and driveway.

Yy. Houses are becoming like the Mumsnet chicken.

@Mellowyellow222 i live in a house worth £700k, but don’t have a pension.
I’ve been self employed for several years, and a single parent for a lot of that time, so all money went towards the mortgage rather than pension.
Stupid of me not to put anything into one years ago.
Now I’m in a position to begin, and hope to be putting in approx £1k per month.

So all these much cheaper areas you will downsize to aren't actually that nice. There's a reason they are cheap and as an older person won't be ideal (poor public services and general infrastructure). Equally nice places like the dales are horrendously expensive already because of the influx of folk from other areas taking advantage of wfh etc.

@Tegelflughafen the place I’m moving to is gorgeous, with great public transport, amazing beaches, beautiful countryside, best restaurants etc
i can’t wait!!

No, I always think it’s silly to put all your eggs in one basket.
We have a mixture of things -pensions, a lot of equity, other investments, so if one thing crashes we have other provisions.

We have pensions as well as the option to downsize and release equity. I wouldn’t want to just rely on the house-it’s too unpredictable.

Prices in the cheaper area have already increased significantly in the last few years, and I expect will continue to do so, however I’m in an expensive area of London, so it’ll still be worth it.

Can’t downsize and no pension as don’t get paid enough to save for one